My latest community involvement
As a People of Australia Ambassador, I am privileged and humble to be able to share my involvement and work I am everyday doing to promote, enhance and educate our Australian society about the concept of a multicultural society and also share our life experiences as former refugees and now citizens to this great nation Australia. Australia is a great nation and WE as a nation should collectively work towards a cohesive and inclusive multicultural society. Our stories matters. They give insights into what makes us a multicultural society. Please listen to the video, my story and the stories of two other former refugees now securely living in Australia.
As a multicultural society, I simply believe that Multiculturalism is a system of beliefs and behaviours that recognizes and respects the presence of all diverse groups in an organization or society, acknowledges and values their socio-cultural differences, and encourages and enables their continued contribution within an inclusive cultural context which empowers all within the organization or society.
26 January 2014 - Australia Day Award
During the ceremony for the Citizen of the Year, the Lord Mayor of Hobart gave the following speech:
"From the time of his arrival in Australia Fayia Isaiah Lahai has been a deeply committed and very active member in the Sierra Leonean, broader African and wider Australian community and contributed significantly to a cohesive Tasmanian society and has provided great support for the UTAS migrant support program.
Isaiah has demonstrated his commitment to this area through his constant engagement with University projects aimed at orienting and supporting migrant students new to the university. He has been a mentor to younger students at UTAS several years running, has assisted with outreach activities to college students and is involved in projects helping prepare graduates for the workplace through an introduction to the benefits of volunteering and work placements.
More recently, Isaiah has contributed to the UTAS Community Friends and Networks program which aims to connect “new to town” students with local students and the Tasmanian community.
On external projects between UTAS and the migrant sector, Isaiah has been a founding member of a media working group to establish better connections and mutual understanding between migrant communities and the media.
Isaiah is a regular invited speaker to large audiences in Refugee Week, in speeches against discrimination for the Office of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, in speaking to new students entering the University, and in radio, newspaper and television interviews on issues to do with the settlement experience and the inclusion of diversity in our community.
Isaiah has taken on volunteering roles in areas in which he is passionate about, contributing significantly to both Amnesty International and the Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) in their activities in Tasmania".
(http://www.hobartcity.com.au/Community/Australia_Day_and_Citizenship_Awards)
26 January 2014 - Australia Day
Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr. Tim Soutphommasane visited Hobart and I had the chance to connect with him then atthe Migrant Resource Centre.
Here is the link to his inspirational Astralia Day address: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/who-s-afraid-pride-and-patriotism
26 January 2014 - Australia Day
This is a link to the interview I did with Ryk Goddard on ABC Radion Hobart on the topic of Australia Day. If you wish to listen to the audio recording of the interview with Ryk Goddard from ABC Radio Hobart, please click your mouse on link above. This will take you to the web page where you will find the interview.
28 August 2012 - UTAS Student Voice Forum
I attended this forum in Campbelltown and contributed towards the enhancement of the student voice at the University of Tasmania.
25 August 2012 - Refugee Forum
- On the 23 of March 1991, at the hour of 2:30 pm, I fled into exile with my parents.
- On the 26 of March 1991, we crossed the border into neighbouring Guinea as refugees.
- I spent 14 years in five different refugee camps with much experiences as a survival of war.
- Fourteen years with no formal academic experience in the camps.
- I met my wife in the refugee camp at the age of 18, she was the cure for much trauma in my life
19 June 2012 - Human Rights Award
ABC News article about after my Human Rights Award at the Tasmanian Parliament House. Please click on the links below:
- Link to the article
- or link to the PDF
- Listen to the interview:
23 June 2012 - Walk Together Tasmania
The 23 June 2012 WALK TOGETHER event in Hobart Tasmania was one of a kind I would love to see happening every season in our state. I was privileged and honoured to be part of such a great venture. I gave a remarkable speech during this event and I am very hopeful 2013 will be very great.
THE GREAT PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA DEMONSTRATES THE WALK
“‘Walk Together’ is an opportunity for all Australians to join together in celebration of our diversity and in recognition that for the sake of our future we need to learn to ‘walk together’. The walks will be an opportunity for all people living in the Australian community – Aboriginal Australians, refugees, migrants, international students, long term Australians – to symbolically demonstrate our multicultural reality and call for an end to the politics of fear, division and prejudice.”