INTHEBLACK May 2022 - Magazine - Page 30
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// L E A D E R S & I N N O VAT O R S
STORY BELINDA PARKES PHOTOS MOHAMED HINNAWI
J E N I F E R A U S T I N C PA D E S C R I B E S H E R
L I F E AS A F I N A N C E P R O F E S S I O N A L
N E A R T H E F R O N T L I N E S AT T H E G A Z A
FIELD OFFICE OF THE UNITED
N AT I O N S R E L I E F A N D W O R K S A G E N C Y.
30 ITB May 2022
EARLY INFLUENCES
Born and raised in Launceston, Austin
comes from a line of strong, driven women.
As a student she loved the certainty of
maths and went on to earn a bachelor of
commerce at the University of Tasmania
in Hobart, with the goal of becoming an
accountant.
IMAGES COURTESY UNRWA
THE
LONG
GAME
I
n May 2021, Jenifer Austin CPA was
bunkered down in a secure compound
in the Occupied Palestine Territory of
Gaza as rockets and bombs peppered
the city around her.
Then head of finance for the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip, Austin’s
focus was firmly on the core functions
necessary to keep the operations going
until the point of a ceasefire.
Austin has spent decades working for
international aid agencies in strife-torn
regions across the globe, and is fully briefed
on what is expected of her and her team
during any emergency contingency period,
but she admits those 11 days and nights in
May last year were the most frightening of
her career.
“The airstrikes and missiles overhead were
terrifying. It was a constant and continued
bombardment,” recalls Austin. “It was
something I had never experienced before
and hopefully will never experience again.’’
Gaza, despite its good weather and
attractive Mediterranean coastline, is not
an easy place to live.
It is an enclave almost entirely sealed
off from the rest of the world since it
came under a land, air and sea blockade
imposed by Israel in 2007, after militant
organisation Hamas took control of the
Strip. It is crowded, polluted and lacks
critical infrastructure. Austin travels
everywhere in an armoured vehicle, and
there is a limited number of shops and
restaurants with the necessary UN security
clearance for staff to enter.
It is a stark contrast to Austin’s home
in Tasmania, where her husband, children,
siblings and parents all still live. Tasmania
is embedded deep in Austin’s heart. She
says returning home calms her mind and
rejuvenates her soul after intense work abroad.