About Us
The personal journey
In 1981, a young Australian couple from Whyalla, a small country town 400km northwest of Adelaide in South Australia, arrived at an orphanage in Manila, the Philippines, and adopted their first child a four and-a-half year old boy named Rommel Ricafort – who was to be become known as Daniel Buberis.
They would return to Whyalla soon after where Daniel would attend kindergarten and primary school as one of the first ever inter-country adoptees from the Philippines. Here he would experience the quintessential Australian country lifestyle, with father Peter, playing Australian Rules football and cricket while working as a lawyer, and mother Judy, playing netball and working as a hairdresser. They enjoyed making regular trips down to the Eyre Peninsula coast to Port Lincoln to visit grandparents and relatives and to go camping and fishing. A couple of years later, Judy and Peter moved to Adelaide where shortly after they adopted their second child, also from the Philippines, Thomas aged 9 months.
During this period, Judy established the now defunct Australian Aiding Children (AAC), a not-for-profit organisation, that helped support and raise medical and education funds for impoverished communities and families across the Philippines and parts of South East Asia, helping hundreds of children and their families. Sadly, in 1991 Judy Buberis passed away from cancer leaving behind husband Peter and sons Daniel and Thomas then aged 13 and 6.
Years later, Daniel would go on to finish his school education where he developed his passion for sport and fitness, and then on to university to undertake further study in business and exercise and sports science, culminating in a Master’s degree in Exercise Science.
Daniel became a professional Strength and Conditioning coach working with elite and world class sport coaches and athletes across various sports and levels from youth development to professional elite athletes over a 15-year period, for various sporting organisations including Tennis Australia and the Port Adelaide Football Club (AFL).
It was during this time, a personal journey of discovery and search for identity was unfolding for Daniel as he sought to continue the legacy of his mother, and to understand the origins of his own heritage and past, largely driven by the need to tell his story to his own son – Jensen ‘Rommel’ Buberis. In 2016, Daniel and his wife Kylie, along with Jensen visited Daniel’s orphanage as a family for the first time. Coincidently, their son Jensen was the identical age that Daniel (Rommel) was when he was adopted.
From that moment the realisation of what had transpired was deeply profound and powerful.
It became evident that this experience would not be lost on Daniel. The opportunities that had been presented to him over the years that had led to this moment would not have been made possible if it weren’t for the selfless, compassionate and loving nature of Daniel’s adopted parents.
At this time Daniel also recognised the opportunities that sports and fitness had provided to him particularly during his formative and difficult years; a platform for social interaction, inclusion, physical activity, mental health and wellbeing and an opportunity to contribute to the community.
It was this realisation that helped form the desire to support others less fortunate through sports and physical activity and compelled Daniel to establish Project Six Foundation named after the district zone ‘Project Six’ where he was adopted from in Manila.
This brought clarity and purpose in his research and in understanding the complexities and ‘gaps’ within the physical education and sports systems of South East Asian countries, and various other disadvantaged and remote communities across Australia, where the opportunities to support learning and coach development and physical education were identified.
As a result of this process, Project Six Foundation was formed with a clear and strong purpose that embodies compassion, respect, integrity, commitment, growth, connection and family, in which the primary function is to help up-skill, develop, and support the people who directly influence and encourage the children the most, to play and participate in sport and physical activity.
It is with this approach and through the ‘strength and power’ of sports, coaching, and physical education Project Six Foundation can make a difference.
