IGE Delegates Visit Sydney

Just before our International Gold Event Delegates depart for the experience of a lifetime in Kenya, Lucky and Ramla Giirre and Alan Huynh visited Sydney at the request of Her Excellency, Ms Quentin Bryce The Governor General for an exclusive morning tea event!

IGE_Delegates

Delegates assembled at Admiralty House on Monday, 29 August to have the opportunity to sit down with Her Excellency to discuss the IGE, share their stories and discuss the work that they have been doing in and around their community. The Governor General who is the patron of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Australia has also invited our delegates to meet her again upon their return.

The IGE occurs every three years in host countries around the world, and is attended by over 100 youth representatives from over 50 countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, India and Israel. It offers Duke of Ed Gold Award holders the opportunity to interact with other youth leaders from around the globe, to develop themselves and their skills and encourages them to become effective leaders.

Lucky and Ramla Giirre, aged 24 and 22 from South Australia are excited to be attending the 2011 IGE event. Lucky and Ramla migrated to Australia from Somalia as refugees in 1994. As part of their Duke of Ed, Lucky and Ramla felt the need to form a group to promote activities and opportunities available for young Muslim refugee girls. “As part of the volunteering section of The Duke of Ed, we upscaled our project and established The Muslim Girl’s Kollective (MGKollective) in 2008.” By working with government and non-governmental organizations, MGKollextive helps tackle the issues facing young Muslim women in South Australia including feelings of isolation from the wider Australian community and the lack of awareness of the resources available to them.

In addition to establishing the MGKollective, Lucky and Ramla have also been pioneers for Muslim women by participating in surf lifesaving. Ramla and Lucky joined Henley Surf Life Saving Club in South Australia that runs a program targeting multicultural and Muslim girls. Lucky and Ramla commented “Through MGKollective, we discovered that the girls wanted to be able to swim but felt there was a barrier for Muslim girls in public so we joined the program to show them that they could.” In doing so, Lucky and Ramla became the world’s first women to patrol beaches wearing burquinis (a swimsuit covering the whole body except for hands, face and feet).

Alan Huynh, aged 27 is also a key advocate for youth within his local community. Over the course of completing his Duke of Ed, Alan worked with the Queensland Program for Assistance of Survivors of Torture and Trauma by tutoring young refugees and led a team of 15 volunteers to create the “Partners in Peace” youth leadership camp with the objective of building self esteem amongst refugee students.

In addition to this list of achievements, Alan has also received numerous awards including the Australian Human Rights Commission Young People’s Human Rights Medal and the Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Australia Day Young Citizen of the Year Award in 2009. Currently, Alan is Chairperson of the Commonwealth Youth Forum coinciding with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) occurring in October 2011.

How do our delegates feel about attending the IGE? “The IGE is an experience of a lifetime. I am so honoured to attend and meet other delegates from around the world,” said Ramla. “The experience will be unforgettable.”

IGE Delegates Visit Sydney

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