Councilor Angela Owen Assisting Lord Mayer with Multicultural Communities,
Ms Rose Dash, Executive Manager Multicultural Australia
Mr. Beny Bol, President of Queensland African Communities Council
Dr Ignacio Correa-Velez- CEO QPASTT
Ms. Gail Ker, CEO Access Community Services
Mr. Protais Muhirwa, Director ARMIA House
Sergeant Tracey Coulston and team representing Queensland Police Service Fr Boni and Sr Elizabeth,
St Mark's Inala Parish Mr Ansbert Nkunzineza, Director,
Complete Healthcare Connect Mr Desire Ntahiraja,
the Burundian Community of Queensland President Dr Rita Muidende,
the Zambian Association of Queensland President Dr Sababu Kaitilla,
the Tanzanian Community of Queensland President Mr Future Fidele,
Congolese Community of Queensland Representative Ms Naomi Brown- QPASTT community development relationship team Leader,
Distinguished Guests,
Fellow Rwandans, Brothers and sisters.
It is with huge honour to welcome you to the 18 years Anniversary of Rwandan Cultural Festival 2021. A warm welcome to you all and, on behalf of the Rwandan Association of Queensland members, I start by thanking you all very much for taking this time out of your busy schedule to be with us today.
Every year, the Rwandan Association of Queensland holds a cultural festival to showcase our cultural identity, history, music and anything else to our fellow Australian friends. A festival like this means a lot to us. It is not only an opportunity to have a good day out with friends; but also, a chance to say thank you to the Australian people and authorities for giving us such an incredible opportunity to live in this beautiful country that we now call home.
Today we are also celebrating the 18th anniversary of the Rwandan Association of Queensland. This event was greatly sponsored by the Queensland multicultural Ministry. The Minister Honorable Leanne Linard is not attending the event, but has sent the message that is going to be read later.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to give you a brief background of our association. The Rwandan Association of Queensland was formed in 2003 by the first Rwandan refugees to be resettled in this city of Brisbane. The association started with merely enough members to be legally allowed to form an association: if I am not wrong, the total number was only eight people by then. Eighteen years later, the association’s membership has grown to a few hundreds with the total number of Rwandans living across the state of Queensland estimated to be around 700 people when children are included. Nearly all of our members are resettled refugees who mostly came here from refugee camps in Africa. Though the community has grown, our association nonetheless remains one of the smallest amongst other ethnic communities in QLD. This is because, 10 years ago, the Rwandan government was able to lobby hard for United Nations to consider the refugee status secession clause in relation to Rwandan refugees effectively barring them from access to resettlement to third countries like Australia for durable protection. Despite the RAQ being a small community however, our members continue to achieve good results that other communities would look at with envy.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to report the resilience of our community members who, despite experiencing life worst traumatic events, positively strive every day to make their lives better and contribute to their host country economic growth. We continue to achieve an amazing level of social integration and we have embraced the Australian way of life. I see evidence of this for example in the number of our members currently in employment, those attending or who have finished university studies, those running small enterprises that include driving schools, cleaning businesses, jobs provision and many more involved in different activities that support people’s lives. More encouraging and reassuring is the fact that most if not all of our youth are studying or working rather than being involved in anti-social and /or criminal activities. It is very pleasing that Rwandan families in Queensland continue to keep together rather than be dysfunctional. We are a law-abiding community with no known case of any criminal activity involving our member in eighteen years! I believe and trust that this says a lot about the positive character of our community members and it gives me reason to believe Australia would be right to resettle more Rwandan refugees in the near future.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, looking back over 18 years of our community existence in Queensland, I am amazed at practical achievements of our community. In particular I would like to mention a number of projects that were initiated by the association and that are making a difference to our members and the entire Australia community at large. They are many but few to mention include:
- Active Refugee and Migrant Integration in Australia (ARMIA)that promotes socio-economic participation and combats social isolation through education, empowering inspiring, integrating and participating. This is represented by Mr Protais Muhirwa
- Complete Healthcare Connect that provides quality and comprehensive physiotherapy, speech therapy and counselling. Represented by Ansbert Nkunzineza. This is one of today’s event sponsor. The director, Mr Ansbert is a UQ graduate who migrated to Australia via refugee resettlement.
- The People Power Services Project is a social cleaning venture that employs some of our members and other people from mainly refugee background around Brisbane. Represented by Pacifique Gakindi, the first RAQ President.
- The Imanzi Dance Group Project: This social, cultural dance group was initiated by the association and brings together talented Rwandans united in music and dance. They are becoming popular across Brisbane with a few booked performances. I am very sure you will enjoy their entertainment today. We would be grateful for any support we could get in promoting our own dance worriers. Founded Cyprien Kagorora and now Chaired by Eric Kagorora
- The Kinyarwnda and Cultural Teaching Project: This project is proving very beneficial to young Rwandans who were losing their ability to speak Kinyarwanda-the native language of Rwanda. Not only are kids taught their mother language; they are also brought together to have fun with their friends. The project requires a lot of support including acquiring appropriate didactical materials, transportation and volunteers. We would be grateful for any support we could get to sustain this project. Chaired by Cyprien Ntezimana.
- African Professionals of Australia-Queensland: a national organization that brings together African Australian Professionals. Its main objectives include creating opportunities, excelling and positively impacting on Australian Economy. Chaired by Robert Mukombozi, former RAQ President and QACC President.
- Workforce Diversity Consultancy (WDC). Its main objectives include facilitating employment opportunities and post covid-19 research for refugees and migrants in Queensland. Founded and chaired by Amiel Nubaha, the former RAQ President.
- The Soccer Team Project: The association has had a soccer team for long time now and it has been a good opportunity for the youth to meet, play and enjoy the game. The team won and I am sure it will continue winning trophies. Chaired by Frank Kabanda
- Ami et Amie and Rafiki Driving Schools. These schools facilitate not only Migrants from Rwanda, but also entire African continent as well as European as they are directed by multilingual professionals. They are directed by Jean de Dieu Ndayisenga and Albert Ndagijimana respectively.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, as a not-for-profit association, we are doing our best to initiate and carry out projects that improve the well-being of our community but sometimes it is hard to achieve significant results without financial support. We need funds to be able to implement our program as membership contributions alone are not enough. I call upon the relevant authorities to consider providing more funding options to organisations such as ours so that we can be enablers of our communities. Having said that, there are still other challenges and concerns besides lack of funding and more needs to be done to ensure a better future or our community. In particular, a number of barriers to employment of refugees must be overcome to ensure our members can find a job without too much difficulty. We appreciate the help our members continue to receive from service providers in relation to employment and we would greatly appreciate more help in this matter.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I cannot finish my speech without mentioning our fellow Rwandan refugees scattered across Africa. For us here, we are very lucky to live in a multicultural, democratic society such as Australia; a country that welcomes migrants from around the world including refugees. However, when we come here, we still have relatives, family and friends back home. Most of them are refugees without UNHR protection and living in host countries across Africa in total insecurity. Our community is extremely concerned about the plight of these people whose refugee status have ceased on June 30, 2013 due to the manipulation of the Rwandan government. I call upon the Australian authorities to consider putting these helpless refugees on a priority list for the Refugee Humanitarian Program.
On behalf of all members of the Rwandan Association of Queensland, I thank you for your attention and for your time to be with us today. God bless you and enjoy the festival!
Thank you.
Theogene Ngabo
President, Rwandan Association of Queensland (RAQ)Inc.
