“You can’t save the world, but if you can do something to help one person then start with that.”

This is the advice of Pastor Susan Scarcella.

Affectionately known as Mama Sue to many, the pastor from Liverpool was yesterday humbled to be named on the Australia Day Honours List.

She received an Order of Australia medal for her service to overseas humanitarian aid projects.

When she was 19 years old, Mama Sue went overseas as a missionary.

She decided to go to Indonesia, because she had studied the language at school and university, where she helped out at the Widhya Asih Orphanage, run by a Protestant Christian church in Bali.

Still to this day she helps them. “It’s just natural, when someone is in need you just give them a hand,” she said.

Today, Mama Sue collects practical gifts and resources to take to the orphans, including clothes, school books, pens, dolls, cars, beauty kits and mosquito nets.

While she is there, she also teaches the kids English.

Presently there are more than 450 children in the orphanage.

“I love the friendliness of the people there and I love the children,” Mama Sue said.

“People always say if you can’t find Sue just look for the children.”

Mama Sue has also taken individuals and groups with her to the orphanage.

She also arranges individual and corporate donations for distribution in Bali, Yogyakarta and Aceh and, more recently, to Tanzania, Chile, Pakistan, India and Samoa.

She buys products from Indonesia or things the kids have made and sells them in Australia for a profit to go back into the orphanages.

“We’ve always had Christian values in Australia, that’s why Australians always give to the poor and needy,” she said.

“Australians are very generous.”

She said the people that she helped always wanted to pay it forward and give, so it was a beautiful cycle.

Mama Sue is part of the Southern Cross Association of Churches.

She is also a member of the Wesley International Congregation.

By Shery Demian
Source: South West Rural Advertiser