Cuppa Co-Lab & [Stories that Stir®](https://www.storiesthatstir.com/event-

details-registration/cuppa-co-lab-stories-that-stir-r-collaboration-belonging)
Collaboration – BELONGING

Stories that Stir ® is delighted to be joining forces with Cuppa
Co-Lab to bring you a special event designed to break down barriers, stir
conversation and inspire positive change.

Details: Come and listen to six Cuppa Collective storytellers, who will
each share their 10-minute raw and personal stories, linked to the theme
BELONGING, in all its shapes and forms.

Cuppa Co-Lab is Cuppa TV’s purpose-built home in Barangaroo, created to bring
people together for meaningful conversation and genuine collaboration.

The space has been designed to spark ideas, deepen dialogue and create the
kind of impact that extends well beyond the room. It’s where leaders, creators
and teams don’t just meet, they truly connect and reflect.

Tickets include a delicious grazing table to enjoy before the storytelling
begins. Food allergies are catered to.

Meet your Storytellers:

Bearing Witness – Peter Baines

Baines would spend months leading the International operations in the
identification of 5395 bodies after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. Much of this
time was spent either dealing directly with the bodies of those who died or
the families left behind. During his time in Thailand he was given an
ultimatum that would irreversibly change his life. He found himself living in
a hostel without the financial means to support himself, and at that point, he
founded the charity Hands Across the Water to support children in Thailand
left without parents.

Pho-Real – Naomi Cao

Naomi arrived in Australia as a four year old Vietnamese refugee. With no
knowledge of English, and a name that many could not pronounce, she was
baptised into Australian culture at the school VFL Grand Final parade. She
learned to adapt fast. Years later she changed her name at uni to fit in. It
didn’t. Belonging , as it turns out, wasn’t that simple!

Lost Belonging – Adam Axford

Adam shares a true story of a Southeast Asian village where he once felt more
at home than anywhere else in the world. What began as a search for freedom
became a reckoning with consequence, exile and identity. Through vivid
storytelling and spoken word, he explores what happens when a place you love
no longer welcomes you back.

Spared – Alfred Chidembo

In 1979, amid Zimbabwe’s liberation war, a pregnant mother gambled everything
on a perilous journey to the city, crossing a road laced with hidden death
while her children watched in silence. Weeks later, the child she carried was
born. Decades on, that boy, Alfred, would walk barefoot to school, earn a PhD
in Australia, and return hope to his village through books. Living proof that
survival sometimes carries a purpose.

Home Within – Nerissa Trindade

Born in India and shaped by the silence that often surrounds difference,
Nerissa grew up believing belonging was something to be earned. As a queer
person of colour building a new life in Australia, they searched for
acceptance in communities, careers, and labels, until they discovered what
they had been seeking all along: a home within.

Shedding Labels – Hawanatu Bangura

From Sierra Leone to Australia, Hawanatu’s journey of belonging unfolds
through the labels placed on her. Skin colour, migration, and expectation
shape her world until she begins to peel them away. What remains is a
powerful truth: belonging is not something you earn, but something you choose.

* Trigger warning: Story content may include sensitive topics such as
trauma, suicide, death etc.

Event Details:

• Date: Thursday 26th March
• Time: Doors open 6pm
• Venue: Cuppa Co-Lab Space, Suite 2, Level 1, 300 Barangeroo Avenue, International Towers, Tower Three
• Additional Information:Enter via door outside Wild Sage Cafe to the right of Woolworths Metro and look for the Cuppa Representative