Sian White
Young Rotarian building a brighter future
Noosa residents Roger White and Mary are rightly proud of their daughter Sian who has devoted much of her young life to human rights, social justice, reconciliation and the environment and she doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon.
Sian White is a Honorary Rotarian of the Rotary Club of Scarborough, WA.
At 27, Sian was awarded an OAM in the Australia Day 2014 Honours List for service to international relations, particularly through tuberculosis prevention programs in the Pacific.
Much of Sian's young life has been involved with numerous humanitarian causes in Australia and around the world, raising over $260,000 for many charities and emergency relief appeals. Sian has been an active member or volunteer with 27 organisations and is a passionate campaigner for basic human rights, social justice, reconciliation and the environment, including extensive work with the indigenous people of WA, facilitating a range of activities and long-term community projects.
Sian became a Paul Harris Fellow at age 15, an Honorary Rotarian of the Rotary Club of Scarborough, WA, and also Young Australian of the Year for Community Service in the same year. Sian carried the Olympic Torch in 2000 and in 2004 was selected by the Rotary Club of Midland, WA, to go on a Rotary Youth Exchange to Norway for a year. Sian has also raised enough funding for over 300 "Wheelchairs for Kids" in need around the world.
At 21, Sian started a four year project in India to build two hostels for blind, deaf and dumb children, contacting the Rotary clubs of Scarborough, WA, and Udaipur, India, for matching grants. A third project was equipping a vocational training centre with educational classes, workshops and retail outlets for disabled young people.
As a delegate for many leadership conferences and humanitarian causes, Sian has travelled to Cambodia, Korea, Hong Kong, Fiji and the USA. More recently she went to Mongolia and Nepal for research programs. Sian worked in Papua New Guinea for four years as project manager for the National Tuberculosis Program and is now doing research at London University into evolutionary and social motivators of hygiene and sanitation behavior in Asia and Africa.
