Anwel Aweng remembers the first time she found her voice. “I was tired of other people thinking they knew what my issues were,” the 22-year-old said.
She knew young African women living in Australia had their own battle.
Almost two years ago Ms Aweng helped create New Change, a group for young African-Australian woman in Melbourne’s west who wanted to push for social change.
One of their first projects was a spoken word video called
Breaking News that challenged racial discrimination and the misrepresentation of South Sudanese-Australians. The video made national headlines and gave the group the confidence to produce a series of poetic documentary pieces called Mind Body Soul.
Ms Aweng said so far, they’ve achieved what they set out to. Recently the group was asked to speak before a Federal inquiry into migration, and they now tour schools to increase awareness about issues affecting young African-Australian women.
“Our voices are being heard, people want to help us,” she said.
New Change’s progress has even caught the attention of academics overseas. Ms Aweng has been invited to speak about the group’s journey at the International Society for Community Research and Action in Ottawa, Canada, next month. To support Ms Aweng visit pozible.com/project/awels-journey-for-social-change
