Turning empathy into action

For as long as Georgette Grounds can remember, injustice has felt personal.

As a child walking through Brisbane’s CBD to see the Christmas lights, she spotted a jarring contrast. Festive displays glowed overhead while, just metres away, people slept rough on the streets.

The scene left a lasting impression of confusion, sadness and anger bubbling together. 

“I’ve always been a highly empathetic person,” Georgette says.

“As a young kid I really struggled with seeing injustices in the world.

“I remember being confused why anyone was allowed to be unhoused, and how no one would help them. To this day, I continue to be deeply passionate about the human right to safe housing.”

That early awareness of injustice was reinforced by family history.

The story of her aunt and her family’s post-war migration from Vietnam to Australia sparked an interest in refugee rights and displacement. 

Throughout school, Georgette took any opportunity to write an essay or give a speech on refugee or human rights issues.

Eventually that concern turned into action. Protesting, volunteering, starting small community-led initiatives and rallying others became a way to channel her anger at injustice into something constructive. 

So when she discovered ACU offered a Bachelor of Human Rights, the decision to study it felt right.

“It felt like a perfect match before I even started studying,” she says.

Swapping Schoolies for volunteer work

At the end of 2023, Georgette had the opportunity to explore international human rights with the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Raw Impact – even before she set foot inside ACU.

Instead of a traditional Schoolies celebration, her school graduation marked the beginning of something far more meaningful: volunteering in Cambodia’s slum villages of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

And the work was physically demanding. 

Alongside the RAW Impact team, Georgette’s days were spent building sustainable bamboo housing, bricklaying toilets so children wouldn’t have to walk kilometres just to use the bathroom, concreting stairs and foundations, digging holes for stakes, planting trees and installing water filtration systems.

“It was hard work in the blazing sun,” Georgette says. 

“But the pure joy on the families’ faces made it so worth it.”

She also visited other NGOs including SHE Rescue and Bloom Asia – organisations working directly with women who had been rescued from human trafficking and exploitation. 

Listening to their stories of survival and resilience proved transformative.

“Hearing those stories solidified my dream to work in the human rights field.”

Lessons in hope

One of the most powerful moments of the trip came during a visit to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which documents the atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge regime.

Witnessing the evidence of such extreme violence was heartbreaking.

Yet, amid the pain, Georgette found hope.

“I realised that the older generation of people living in Cambodia, some in their 50s, survived these horrors – yet, they still have a smile on their face, are incredibly hospitable with what (comparatively) little they have, and have incredible gratitude for their lives,” she says. 

“The strength and peace of the Khmer people, despite their most horrible history, is inspirational beyond words.”

More still to come

In 2025, Georgette travelled to Vanuatu with The Library Project where she helped to build two new school libraries to help curb the community’s low literacy rate. 

“It's not only the local children who benefit from the libraries built, but also the wider community including parents and teachers,” she said. 

“A lot of the time, nearby families will travel to the schools – often kilometres, through the mud – just to read.”

And looking ahead, Georgette’s ambitions are global. 

She hopes to work across southeast Asia, particularly in the prevention of sex trafficking – both on the ground supporting survivors and at a policy level, helping to stop exploitation before it begins. 

A future role with the United Nations or as an international diplomat is the ultimate goal.

There are also plans to head to Laos in 2027 with RAW Impact, continuing to volunteer, listen to stories of resilience, and witness the complex realities of beauty and suffering that coexist in the world.

An ACU education

Now in her final year of the Bachelor of Human Rights, the flexibility of ACU’s online delivery model has made it possible for Georgette to balance work, study and ongoing advocacy.

A work experience opportunity through ACU also led to a full-time role with local government that has allowed Georgette to continue her fight against injustice. 

Because human rights is more than a field of study. It’s a lifelong commitment – rooted in childhood experiences, strengthened through global engagement and driven by an unwavering belief that a more just world is possible.

Inspired to help others? Explore courses at ACU.