By Ewen McRae
Nearly 27 years after migrating to Australia, Caroline Springs’ Haileluel Gebre-Selassie has been awarded a medal of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day honours.
Mr Gebre-Selassie, 48, received the medal for service to the African community of Victoria, but he downplayed the honour when he spoke to Star Weekly.
“I’m honoured, but at the same time humbled,” he said. “There are so many people who achieve a lot of stuff more than me I believe … I’m happy to be acknowledged, but I don’t do things just for this. I’ve been doing things in the community since I arrived in this country and nothing will change for me after this.
“I don’t like to highlight my achievements – it’s a bit embarrassing. But this is one of the countries that recognises peoples’ achievements and contributions to their society, so I’m very proud to be an Australian and receive this award.”
Originally from Ethiopia, Mr Gebre-Selassie, the son a of a priest, migrated to Australia in 1992, receiving Australian citizenship four years later.
He has been actively involved in the community across Melbourne, but has lived in Caroline Springs for the past 14 years after building a home for his family there.
Among his many roles, he is a founding member and current chairperson of the African Think Tank, convenor of the Victorian Police African Australian Communities Task Force, initiated and now chairs the African Leadership Development Program and is board member of the Brimbank Melton Local Learning Employment Network.
“The past 10 years, one of my big focuses has been growing the capacity for leaders within the African community,” he said.
“We’ve graduated more than 240 community leaders across many countries. The idea is like a small boat in the high seas. When you see a boat in the high seas you need to stabalise that to save the lives of those in the boat … the different communities are like that boat within this beautiful, big country, which is the seas.
“I’m really excited and very happy with what we’ve been able to achieve.”
While he admitted that he sometimes gets frustrated that the positives of the wider African community are not highlighted as often as the negatives, he said there was far more good news than bad.
“There are some issues with a very small portion of young people, but I think the majority of young African community members are doing a good job,” Mr Gebre-Selassie said.
“When there is a problem, we don’t want to hide from it. We want to look at how to fix that problem, find the root causes and find ways to work with that community and the broader Australian community to address these issues.
“There is a willingness to address these issues, but it is complex at times.
“If you look at the census, there are over 400,000 African-born Australians, so that’s a large number of people who are doing great things.
“There’s a great number of good things happening in these communities.”
Mr Gebre-Selassie paid tribute to his wife, Hamere, and daughters Loza and Salem for their support in allowing him to pursue his passion for community work.
“I am extremely fortunate for my wife, who understands my passions and interests and supports them,” he said.
“I can honestly say without her support, collaboration or compassion I couldn’t achieve a single one of these things. Much of the credit should go to her and also my daughters, who allow me to spend so much time away and support me fully with that.”
