Interfaith mentoring for Somali students
A Muslim-Jewish Somali graduate mentoring program, called Iftiin, has been launched at Parliament House in Victoria.
A MUSLIM-JEWISH Somali graduate mentoring program, called Iftiin, has been launched at Parliament House.
Iftiin – meaning “light” in Somali – is an initiative of the Young Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) and the Somali community of Melbourne, led by Mahad Warsame of the Somali community and Alon Cassuto of the Young AICC.
It will pair young Somali-Australian university graduates across engineering, IT and business as mentees, with early to mid-career professionals from the Young AICC as mentors.
The program will take place over five months, comprising formal monthly events, and fortnightly one-on-one meetings, focusing on a range of topics and skills development.
Cassuto told The AJN that the program aims to create a new generation of Somali-Australian young business leaders, as well as “to forge them as leaders so they can go back into their communities and act as role models”.
He said that often members of this community aren’t able to secure work in the field in which they have qualified, sending a message to the younger generation that there is nothing to be gained by studying at university.
But this program will give mentees the skills, and importantly, the connections they need in the professional world, to succeed and excel.
“We’re all incredibly excited at the impact this can have,” Cassuto said, adding there are benefits for mentors too.
Mentor Charlie Krowitz knows firsthand the difficulty of settling in a new country, having emigrated to Australia from South Africa with her parents at the age of 21.
Now a talent acquisition specialist at REA Group, she found herself needing to rebuild her networks from scratch on arrival in Australia, and feels she can make a strong contribution to Iftiin for this reason.
Her mentee, Hodan Qani, is a 22-year-old studying human resource management – and the first of her family to go to university.
“It’s all been a struggle. It was a big deal to go to university,” Qani said.
She said she looks forward to Iftiin helping her translate her education into real-world experience in her chosen field.
“I know people who are working in finance and accounting, and they told me that what you learn at university is not how the world works. This will give me the experience outside of what you learn at university,” Qani enthused.
“We are the first generation to be able to make a positive impact.”
Attendees at the launch included Victorian MPs David Southwick and Marsha Thomson, and leaders from the Jewish and Somali communities.
PHOEBE ROTH
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