Trisha McGinness met Teresa Padiet four years ago at South West TAFE and the new Warrnambool residents shared stories about why the came to the south-west.

Ms Padiet is originally from South Sudan and has returned home to visit the country following its long battle for independence and subsequent civil war.

Several fund-raisers have been co-ordinated by Ms Padiet and friends during the past few years to assist with the South Sudanese cause, leading to this latest charitable endeavour.

Ms McGinness said the level of despair and destruction in South Sudan, especially the Malakal region, was hard to comprehend for most Australians.

“Teresa’s stories about South Sudan really opened my eyes to what’s going on over there,” she said. “You hear on the news about Syria, Iraq and Ukraine, which are all terrible conflicts but you don’t hear as much about South Sudan. 

“People are still dying in their civil war. Our raffle is as much about raising awareness as it is about raising money.”

Ms McGinness will sell raffle tickets at the foreshore caravan parks this week to raise proceeds for the work being undertaken by the Catholic Church in South Sudan. A car boot sale and African Cultural Day will also be staged on Saturday at Our Lady Help of Christians School in east Warrnambool from 11am to 3pm.