21 year old Noble Park resident Arif Hazara is heading to Geneva in June to represent Australia as part of the UNHCR negotiations with NGOs to discuss issues affecting refugees and asylum seekers. An active member of the community, Arif has achieved great things since he arrived from Afghanistan as an unaccompanied minor and asylum seeker in 2011.
Arif is no stranger to youth advocacy; he played a vital part in the Greater Dandenong Youth Think Tank in 2013, attended a 3 day summit in Sydney hosted by the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network in 2014 and has spoken at many conferences such as the recent “Paths To Change” conference run by ASRC affiliate Road To Refuge. Alongside all this, Arif works full time as Assistant Accountant at East Malvern based business Dennis Family Homes. He also volunteers as a student mentor at RMIT University where he is in his third year studying Accounting.
Arif is part of the Melbourne based Doxa Cadetship program, which supports young people from challenging life circumstances in their transition from school to University. The Cadetship program provides financial support, professional development and a work placement at a sponsor company.
Arif Hazara says: ““My passion and purpose is human rights and refugee advocacy and I am proud to represent Australia in Geneva in June. Since arriving in the Dandenong area I have received fantastic support from those around me, including Doxa and Dennis Family Homes. They gave me the support and confidence I needed at university and allowed me to gain some invaluable professional work experience. This confidence has also helped me on my way to Geneva.”
Stephen Silk, Doxa Chief Executive Officer, Doxa says: “We work with a variety of young people, including many of newly arrived or refugee status and we support them in integrating into the community and networking with young people. Arif is not only an inspirational individual and a fantastic ambassador for our Doxa Cadetship program but he is also a testament to how important young people are in our community.”
Find out more
For any media enquiries, please contact Belinda Rowse (details below). A downloadable .pdf can also be obtained by clicking the button below.
[eventbutton text=’Media Statement’ link=’http://doxa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Doxa-Media-Statement-Arif-Hazara_01.pdf’]