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by Sahar Foladi
Afri-Aus Care has won the Community Group of the Year Australia Day Award by City of Greater Dandenong, crowning a decade of ground-breaking service.
The Springvale South organisation was established in 2015 by Selba Gondoza Luka OAM, a popular name in the tight-knit community of Greater Dandenong and all over Victoria.
“There are so many people who are doing great things to get such an honour for me is a shock,” Luka says.
“My experience as mental health clinician and UBUNTU values helped me understand the situation people are facing.
“It helped me to dig deeper into the African community. Nearly 300 women are working (at Afri-Aus Care), they have been empowered I can proudly say that.”
She thanks and expresses gratitude to all the donors, funders, community members, volunteers and staff.
“The award is for all of us as the UBUNTU family.”
Afri-Aus Care has been a haven for a decade now for families, UBUNTU Mama’s, youth and so many others in so many ways.
Major plans are drawn up for the organisation as they seek funding to knock down the old and building and build a UBUNTU Village community.
“While we love our beautiful centre that is full of love and passion for our work, the space is no longer big enough to be able to cater for all people accessing our services and programs we are running and planning to run,” Luka says.
Part of the plan is also to include a Black Rhinos sporting team Community Hub in the multi-purpose space, which will be open for different communities to use.
A young South Sudanese volunteer Mamuch Chuol is among the many who have benefitted under Luka’s mentorship and guidance.
He started volunteering with the organisation to understand how to establish an organisation, seek guidance from Selba and is now a successful young founder of the youth-led non-for-profit organisation NextGen Unite in Dandenong.
“I had already started an organisation, I studied full time as law student, I was working at a furniture shop.
“Selba and her team were very supportive of me, they helped to put in my first grant application for my organisation and continuously guided me in every phase.
“It’s amazing to see her commended for her efforts. Super grateful to have her as my mentor and I’m really glad she could be honoured in that way.”
Chuaol was also one of the basketball players on the Black Rhinos team, which is committed to empowering South Sudanese youth through sports programs, music programs and other pathways.
“We started the organisation because of what we saw going on in the community.
“We thought in this section there wasn’t enough young people neither was there a voice for young people.”
Black Rhinos has engaged over 2000 young people within the organisation and has more than 15 paid and unpaid staff.
Program manager Abraham Kuol calls Afri-Aus Care a “home away from home”.
He started volunteering as a fresh graduate from RMIT University where he undertook undergraduate and honours degree in Project Management.
His mother – a senior UBUNTU ambassador – convinced him to interact and work with Afri-Aus Care.
“So, I came in with the intention of using some of my skills to see how I could work with her (Selba) and people from the community to build it up.
“Selba was doing incredible the team was amazing, and they were already doing amazing things.
“What stood out was there was a community, a dedicated group of people who were coming from different parts of life looking to build each other up.
“You can see the joy of the community members when they visit and see the commitment of the staff and that’s not something you see in a lot of places that’s what stood out, the passion.”
Kuol who is also a resident of City of Casey and previously Greater Dandenong, is an associate research fellow and PhD candidate in criminology at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization at Deakin University.
He is able to mix his passion and explore the post settlement challenges of African Australians focusing on the justice system contact.
His interests include youth violence, risk, and protective factors for offending, and culturally and linguistically diverse young people.
Kuol is one of the 10 recipient of Westpac Social Change Fellowship scholarship 2025.
The fellowship provides up to $50,000 funding towards personal development for conferences, coaching, as well as overseas learning trips for professional development.
It also provides leadership coaching and networking with other like-minded people in his chosen sector.
Kuol intends to stay with Afri-Aus Care for as long as he can both as a volunteer or paid staff.
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