When Luciana Manrique moved to Australia from the city of Salta in northern Argentina 14 years ago she made her husband Armando promise that they would only stay for two years. But she and her family ended up making their home in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Even before she could properly speak English herself (she was at level 2) Luciana began teaching asylum seekers English skills in her local community. Within a few years she became involved in many community building initiatives including creating a zero-carbon Latin festival, joining a local beach patrol and was actively involved in a campaign to save a local pop-up park in Melbourne’s west.
But having grown up in a beautiful area of Argentina close to the Bolivian border with forests, jungles, ocean and mountains within easy reach, Luciana says nature is something she has always cherished since childhood – and it is part of the reason she has felt connected in Australia.
After spending several years traveling around South America including stints living in Ecuador, Chile and Brazil working as a journalist, Luciana says she saw some injustices that shaped her commitment to social and environmental justice.
“There were families, entire communities, living in houses made of cardboard. These houses were built on top of the rubbish dump. So it was, to me, heartbreaking,” she says.
“The kids were playing like nothing was wrong, and smelling all these gasses. When we are talking about sustainability, we need to mention it’s a social justice issue. The people who contribute least to climate change are the ones that feel the consequences hardest – they haven’t done anything wrong, but were born in a very unjust system.”
After living in several countries in South America, Luciana and her husband sought new challenges, and chose Australia. After the initial two years of the original plan, they decided to stay permanently in Australia and become citizens.
“The reason why we decided to come to Australia was we wanted to have an international experience. But once we arrived what attracted me the most was not only the huge amount of natural spaces and surroundings, but also the generosity of the people and the opportunities I saw to serve others here in Australia.”
Despite working with people from many different backgrounds in Melbourne’s western suburbs (one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Australia) Luciana says she feels a special connection with other Latin American migrants. However, one of her special areas of interest has centred around how to bring people from diverse backgrounds in climate conversations.
“Migrants will all experience different challenges when they come to Australia with the language and engaging with the culture – you have a certain vulnerability. How can we get prepared for what’s coming?”
Luciana says there is a huge appetite among migrant communities to learn more about what climate change means for them and their families at home and how they should get prepared for extreme weather events.
“It’s easy to become isolated. They face mental health challenges. There are social pressures, like, the rising cost of living, that make the conversation about climate change more challenging. We are grounded in reality, but we are guided by hope. We need to learn how to do things better for both the people and the environment”
Luciana says the thing that gives her the most hope is when she sees communities come together to help each other find and re-establish their own sense of agency.
“When I think of the beach clean ups we did and hear people say they didn’t think they could do this, but then they see so many people showing up and realise that they too can play a part. For me, this is when you enable people to gain their own power. They feel like they are contributing in a different way – that they are no longer a spectator. So it gives me hope when I see the power of many.”
