Africa Day Australia Forum

2018 ADA Forum

Africa Day Australia Family & Youth Forum Presents: Mental Wellness, Looking After Your Wellbeing! 

• How to manage and maintain mental wellbeing.

• An opportunity to ask questions from a panel of health experts.

• An opportunity to share and learn from the experience of others.

 

“Each year, one in five Australians will experience a mental illness, and most of us will experience a mental health problem at some time in our lives”

 

African Australian migrant population with experience of trauma pre and post migration is struggling with numerous mental wellbeing concerns. Even of greater concern is how being raised in Australia and in homes with a higher prevalence of mental wellbeing concerns is impacting the younger generations.

 

How do we deal with this crisis? Let's have a conversation!

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2017 ADA Forum Promotion

Join the celebration of Africa Day and meet diverse African Australians seeking a fit, an event brought to you by Africa Day Australia Inc., in partnership with Victoria University and numerous other organisations. Africa Day has been celebrated in Melbourne since 2012. It is an opportunity to bring together in unity the diverse African cultures represented here in Australia for the purpose of celebrating the economic, spiritual, moral, social and cultural contributions and successes of Australians of all age groups from African descent. It is also an opportunity to highlight the benefits African Australians, including women and youths, bring to Australia and the importance of Africa to Australia and the world. This year, ADA features a Forum of three sessions – Advancing African Australian Agenda, Families Forum and Youth Forum. Its central objectives include: To harness resources for future Africans, build resilience for families in transition, promote youth integration and engage youth in transition for positive participation.

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Join us for this free Africa Day Australia Forum: Opportunities Empowering African Australian Families, Youth and ‘Thought’ People.

Join the celebration of Africa Day and meet diverse African Australians in this event brought to you by Africa Day Australia Inc. in partnership with Victoria University. This forum features three sessions:

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TOPICS FOR EACH SESSION

SESSION 1 (10.00 AM - 12 Noon) - Advancing African Australian Agenda: African Renaissance

SESSION 2 (1.30 - 3.30 PM) - Families Forum: Resilience

SESSION 3 (4.00 PM - 6.00 PM) - Youth Forum: Engagement and Integration - Bold for Positive Participation

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The forum is open to anyone and you can attend as many sessions as you like. Lunch is not provided but there'll be plenty of food to purchase outside on Nicholson Street at Footscray's Africa Day celebrations!

 

OBJECTIVES:

1) Harnessing resources for future Africans

2) Building resilience for families in transition

3) Promoting youth integration

4) Engaging Youth in transition

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2016 Forum:

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The 2016 Africa Day Australia Forum comprised three mini forums; academic, families and youth. The whole day event found a new home at the newly furbished Victoria University Metro West facility in Footscray and was held on Saturday May 14th

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Rabecca Mphande is the ADA Forum Chairperson and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to organise key note speakers, panellists and outreach with the support of each forum sub-coordinator and the ADA forum committee. 2016 is the fourth year that ADA has been sponsoring forums as part of the celebration of Africa Day, or African Freedom week and was the most successful forum to date. The message to showcase African Australian successes is definitely having a ripple effect within the African diaspora communities in Melbourne, plus the wider community.

Each forum had its own theme, listed here in order of the program on the day.

• Academic Forum: Advancing the Africa Australian agenda - the role of African Australian diasporas. 

• Families Forum theme: Holding together the African Australian family unit.

• Youth Forum theme: Africa Australian youth finds a fit.

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The day was opened with welcome remarks by Rabecca Mpande (ADA Forum Chairperson) and a Welcome to Country. The VIP speech was given by Hon. Robin Scott, Minister of Finance and Multicultural Affairs. Fred Alale was the MC for the academic and families’ forum.

Dr. Apollo Nsuguba-Kyobe, (academic forum coordinator) introduced the Key Note Speaker Mr. Mathew Nuehas (assistant secretary, DFAT Middle East and Africa Division for the Academic Forum. Dr. Charles Mphande moderated the panellists; who were Dr. Apollo Nsuguba-Kyobe, Mr. Haileluel Gebreselassie (Executive Director AAAA), Soeti Kadir (youth poet and co-founder of In Our Own Words) and Berhan Ahmed (Director of the African Think Tank). Dr. Apollo gave the closing remarks.

After a healthy African lunch, Jo Dolan from Vic. Police presented the VIP speech for the Families Forum. Sharon Orapeleng, (mental health specialist) who flew in from Brisbane for the event, presented an energetic and insightful Key Note Address about wellbeing for new African Australians and offered a holistic approach. Rabecca Mphande was the moderator for the panel, who were:  Kamil Ebrahim from Quit Victoria, Sainab Sheik, Kamil Ebrahim, Teresia Kanyi, John Bellavance, Theresa Sengaaga Ssali and David Leonard. Panel topics focused on well-being with a holistic approach, family empowerment, and violence preventions and mediation. We were honoured to have the outgoing ADA president, Stephen Sibanda give closing remarks for this segment.

Hozey, MC for the Youth Forum kept us entertained with his wit and energy during this segment. Rhoda Mpande and Lizzy Kuoth were the co-chairs who organised the panellists and a dazzling fashion show featuring RKM design by none other than Rhoda herself. Priscilla Mphande who was the runner up at the 2015 Africa’s Got Talent competition, entertained us with her beautiful voice and Daniel Elia gave us a Rap about his experiences as an African youth. Melanie Augustine was the moderator for the youth segment. Panel topics focused on building youth capacity, identity at odds, success stories and cloning youth. Panelists were Zaphidah Kanyi, Neera Konara, Gatwech Wal, Roda Mphande, Bianca Joyce, Melanie Augustine, Priscilla Mphande, Adriana Bito, Soreti Kadir, Nyasha Dzingai, Joshua Sahr, Bol Luak and Olivier Mus.  Closing remarks were presented by the new ADA president Dr. Steve Rametse.

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WFWP was well presented at the forum. WFWP is one of the sponsors for the ADA events and during the forum day, served morning tea and helped out at registration. Anne Bellavance (WFWP national president) was the day coordinator for the forum and sits on the ADA Forum committee. It was great to see Sharon Orapeleng who gave the keynote address during the families’ segment. Sharon works with Mamiko Rattley in the WFWP Qld. Chapter and has come to Sydney for national meetings. Bianca Joyce is one of our WFWP Vic. board members and shared deeply about her experiences working in the social sector helping youths affected by alcohol. It was a long, but moving, insightful and interest filled day.

Report written by Anne Bellavance

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2015 Forum:

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• Session 1: Advancing African Australian Agenda, 10am - 12pm

• Session 2: Families Forum, 1.30pm - 3.30pm

• Session 3: Youth Forum, 4pm - 6pm.

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The Africa Day Australia Forum’s central objectives are to:

• showcase communities empowering practices and sources of support for African communities including the youth e.g. Eritrean Community and schooling focused on goals and targets to support children moving from high school to higher education

• educate and raise awareness of African communities of domestic violence to open dialogue in order to raise awareness and respond for positive change

• engage African Australians with Africa: What is the role of African Australian Diasporas in enhancing Africa-Australia’s relationship?

 

African Australian Leadership and others representing the fields of culture, social development, law, business, and politics and youth entrepreneurship presented at a day long forum at RMIT University. The speakers inspired all that attended to feel empowered to change their own lives and the lives of others. The purpose of the forum was to bring together stakeholders from government and community leaders to discuss issues affecting African Australians. The forum has two main themes: Empowering African Australian Families and The Changing face of the African Australian Youth in Australia. Presenters came from a broad representation of the community and professional environments. This forum provided an opportunity to identify strategic directions and initiatives. Rabecca Mphande and Fred Alale were the MCs for the forum.

 Forum Objectives:

• To strengthen and to promote families wellbeing within the wider community. To engage members of the community in conversion around services and support groups available to assist them.

•  To showcase a holistic and multi- disciplinary approach to dealing with family relationship issues

• To contribute to build capacity for services to work more effectively with the African Community

• To increase a sense of connection to the local community

 

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Empowering African Australian Families
Adam Bandt (Federal MP for Melbourne) spoke of the importance of African Australians working together. He highlighted the strength of these communities and the success stories that he witnessed. He said: “Australia is great place because we have the values of peace, freedom and opportunity. We need to spread these values to the world.” He was unhappy that the current government had cut aid to Africa by 70%.

Robin Scott (Minister for Multicultural Affairs) told the audience that: “People need to exercise power in their lives and this includes economic opportunities. I want people in this room to have leadership opportunities and economic power.” He pointed out that Victoria is a success story when it comes to multiculturalism, yet there was still work to be done, barriers to overcome. “Training needs to be provided to overcome these barriers and I want to would work with you to do this. I want to be responsive to your needs.” Here are some of the issues and questions that were raised to be addressed by the minister.

Issue

Out of Home Care Children and Youth - the effects of not maintaining a child/young person's cultural background (and cultural identity) while they're in Out of Home Care

 

Questions

1.        What is Department of Human and Health Services (DHHS)' strategy in relation to CALD children and young people in Out of Home Care (OHC)? 

 

2.        What practices and frameworks are currently in place to meet the needs of these children and young people?

 

Juliana Nkrumah, the Founder of African Women Australia spoke of the need to strengthen support systems for African families. She argued that some members of African Australian communities need to change the cultural attitudes and behaviours that are harmful to women. Advocating for “unity in diversity”, she challenged all African communities in Australia to raise our standards and work together. Emphasising family as the “core for parenting”, she elaborated that in Africa three generations live together and the challenge to the family here in Australia is to work for family unity. She challenged the elders in the community to take on the role of guiding the community and supporting families as one way of attempting to solve intergenerational issues. Furthermore, without mincing words, she clarified the extent family history has been lost through migration. In this instance, Nkrumah urged various African communities to identify elders, not based on age but males and females who are full of knowledge and wisdom, to take up this challenging role to bridge the intergenerational gap. She asked: “Why is there domestic violence in our communities? Is it because we justify this based on culture? African culture does not condone violence.”  Therefore, we should “have zero tolerance for family violence of any form”, including FGM practices. However, Nkrumah explained that not everything in some of the African practices is inappropriate. In this case, “cleanliness” practices associated with FGM were encourage to be maintained. To foster the right values in our youth, Nkrumah contended, “We should celebrate the transition from youth to adulthood as it is done in Africa and mentor our daughters.” 

 

Zione Walker-Nthenda a human rights lawyer, with expertise in family law, family violence laws and child protection provided practical advice about what could be done within the legal framework. In this case, it was clear that the woman’s choice mattered, in the instance of violence, in determining her expectations to prevent violence from recurring or continuing. Thus, ‘open communication with men’ and ‘taking up responsibility’ were emphasised as some of effective strategies to reduce family violence. Lucia Danek a legal Aid lawyer from Victoria Legal Aid Services spoke of the importance of utilising the child protection mechanism available to the community. Alaine Prime who works as Community Liaison Educator identified the child protection and foster care services that are available. Rodney Valence from No To Violence foundation, shared his experiences with working with violent men and the supportive services that are available for them. He said: “In family violence there is a power imbalance. Raising young men with the right attitudes and values is critical. We need to mobilise the African elder system to curb domestic violence.” David Leonard - Manager Policy and Projects with the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria spoke about the mediation strategies that can be used in dispute resolution and how this training could be provided to community elders and leaders. Thus, he recommended the need to work with the younger generation on how to resolve conflict. Similar to Nkrumah’s argument, Leonard advocated the “capacity” of “tradition”. Theresa Sengaaga Ssali proposed that we compile and mobilise services that are culturally appropriate to deal with issues. Others mentioned the need for early intervention. Berhan Ahmed observed that diverse “African communities need to train and share.”

Following these presentation these panel members took to the stage for a Q&A.

• Zione Walker-Nthenda:  Human rights lawyer, with expertise in family law, family violence laws and child protection.

• Sergeant Natasha Powles: Police Family Violence Advisory for the North West Metropolitan, Region.

• Theresa Sengaaga Ssali: Social Worker & Trained Mediator.

• Yasseen Musa – Community Leader: African Men’s Support Group.

• Abraham Jongroor  & Peter Makuei – VISEG New Futures: Strengthening Families Program.

• Berhan Ahmed

 

The Changing face of the African Australian Youth in Australia

 

Petition Chinyemba Youth Forum Coordinator and team members

Tk Nyamvura – the CEO and Founder of Dream Castor aid: “The dream must become part of you. Once it is, don’t let it go”. He suggested the following strategies to be a successful entrepreneurs: do your research before you act; create a good team that has a united vision; stick with the vision and don’t pursue someone else’s. Rudo Mphande CEO and Founder of Complete Access Portal Foundation inspired the participants with the vision: “Create your identity using the qualities that allow you to accomplish your destiny.” She emphasised the importance of these leadership qualities: service to others, team building, networking and organisational skills. Leadership is about capacity building in others.  “Let us look at what made some young people successful. Let us lead by example, be humble about our mistakes, have integrity, but most of all be who you are, be unique.” Zione Walker the CEO and Co-Founder of Incubate Foundation spoke about the work of this foundation and its track record in building leadership and organisational skills in young people. Ellen Sandell, State Member of Parliament for Melbourne spoke about why young people should get into politics. “What inspired me, is that I cared about the community and the environment. I wanted to make a difference. I encourage you to run and make a difference.”

Safa Almarhoun – the founder of Arabic Bites, congratulated Africa Day Australia for bringing the community together and providing leadership roles to young people through the organisation of this forum.  As a community minded and entrepreneurial young woman she inspired the youth to try to pursue their dreams, not be afraid to fail and not to take no for an answer. She said: “Surround yourself with positive people and remember success is a habit, but failure is also a habit.” Ikenna Nwokolo CEO and Co-Founder of Incubate Foundation encouraged young leaders to: be clear on what you want and find your pathway, be passionate about what you want, don’t be afraid to ask questions, persevere through challenges and always back yourself. Rhoda Mphande, Soli Tesema, Joel Mphande and Dawn Faith employed powerful anecdotes, urging the African-Australian youth to be “resilient” as they establish their identity in this highly multicultural and ever-changing contemporary context.

 

Panel Delegates for this session were:

1.  Ikenna Nwokolo CEO/CoFounder of Incubate Foundation -

2.  Rudo Mphande CEO/Founder of MAP (Mad About Prints)

3. Soli Tesema The Voice Finalist

4. Dawn Faith Singer/Song Writer & Social Activist

5. Joel Mphande

ADA Forum Strategic Actions

• Identify and articulate to Robin Scott (Minister for Multicultural Affairs) the support that is needed to provide the ability to exercise power and achieve economic opportunities.

• African Australians must work together more effectively.

• Create initiatives that strengthen the extended family, such as mobilising the elders in this process, celebrating the transition from youth to adulthood as it is done in Africa and strengthening community values.

• Identify the wisdom and knowledge of the elders. Being an elders is not about age, but about values.

• Organise seminars provided by Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria on mediation strategies for dispute resolution to community elders and leaders. 

• Organise training to build leadership and organisational skills in young people

 

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