Truganina’s Rahima Ahmed, who is originally from the Oromia region of Ethiopia, moved to Wyndham about a decade ago. The mother-of-four runs Oromo Women’s Networking Group and the Wyndham Bright Young Leaders program at the Penrose Promenade Community Centre in Tarneit. She talks with Alesha Capone.
What do you like about Truganina and Wyndham?
What I like about this area is the involvement of the community and local community centre. Since 2017, when I took part in the Building Blocks program, I decided to be a better person and I started planning to make differences. That connection engaged me and encouraged me to bring about the idea for the Oromo Women’s Networking Group. The aim of this group is to bring my community together, to stay connected to the local community centre and get support, understand differences, mix with diverse people, learn about cultural barriers and understand more about the Australian lifestyle.
Can you tell me about the Wyndham Bright Young Leaders (WBYL) program?
WBYL was my idea but I brought the idea to Ruth Mihelcic, a team leader at the Penrose Promenade Community Centre. She really liked my idea and supported me to set it up. I decided to open to diverse people because I believe every child needs this leadership program, to be a part of. Also, I committed to continue this program to help our children to use all opportunities that we didn’t get.
Why are you passionate about helping future generations, especially those with a non-English speaking background?
The reason I am passionate about the future generation is something I have learnt from my father. Tthe Australian lifestyle has taught me to worry about future generations. As an example, it wasn’t easy for me to help my children with support for their homework six years ago. My husband has work and by the time he camehome it’s too late and it wasn’t easy to find a tutor. I decided to continue to learn English or study with my children. In 2020, through our Oromo Women’s Networking Group, around 30 children were supported with their homework during that challenging time.
How does being an associate member of the Committee for Wyndham assist you?
The benefit I get is that I started dreaming to study more and to understand about leadership, to make a difference because I am connected with open-minded people.
Would you like to add anything else?
It’s really a great place to be, but in Wyndham there is something missing, and that is job opportunities. This has become a question to me, of how the future is going to be.
