INTHEBLACK December - January 2022 - Magazine - Page 36
ELEVATE BUSINESS AS USUAL
Member profile
AT A GLANCE
36
DEC 2022
JAN 2023
INTHEBLACK CAREER, ELEVATED SPECIAL EDITION
Jenifer Austin FCPA is the
deputy director of operations
at the Gaza Field Office of the
United Nations Relief and
Works Agency (UNRWA).
Born in Tasmania, Australia,
after studying commerce at the
University of Tasmania, Austin
kicked off her accounting
career as a senior auditor for
the Tasmanian Audit Office.
Austin’s career has since
taken her to the United
Arab Emirates, Myanmar,
Malaysia, Singapore,
Kazakhstan, Jordan –
and back to Tasmania.
STORY BELINDA PARKES
PHOTOGRAPHY MOHAMED HINNAWI
TAKING THE
PLUNGE
Jenifer Austin FCPA has gone from classroom teaching and public sector
auditing to working in a secure compound in the Occupied Palestine
Territory of Gaza. Wherever she works, she takes deep satisfaction from
the “light bulb moments” that come from imparting knowledge.
In May 2021, Jenifer Austin FCPA
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, now deputy director of operations
at the UNRWA’s Gaza Field Office, has
spent decades working for international
aid agencies in strife-torn regions across
the globe. While she is fully briefed on
what is expected of her and her team
during any emergency contingency period,
she admits those 11 days and nights in
May 2021 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 Israel
imposed a land, air and sea blockade 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.
