News

Tonight we inducted a new member to our club: Madison Roehrs

Madison is a robotic engineering student who started her rotary journey through RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. She is passionate about helping others and expanding her world view. She looks forward to all the future opportunities rotary has to offer.

Welcome to the club!

Tonight we had Constance Jones from The African Women’s Federation of SA (AWFOSA).

Constance moved from the UK with her family where she lived for 25+ years, after migrating from Sierra Leone. She worked as a senior Human Resources Adviser in a large local government in England and lectured at Worcester University in Derbyshire, after completing her MSc in Payroll Management.

Upon arriving in South Australia, Constance connected with the local Sierra Leone community. Her commitment to empowering women and communities, saw her take up positions as the first female community leader of the Sierra Leonean Community of SA and pioneered the Sierra Leone Women’s Association of SA. These volunteer roles allowed Constance to venture into what she is passionate about and what truly represents her as a person- Strengthening Communities, Creating an inclusive, Multicultural Society and Empowering Individuals. Currently the Manger for the African Women’s Federation of SA, which represents the interests of African women and their families in SA.

Constance is a Role Model, Community Leader, and Mentor, an amazing example of a volunteer who takes “service above self”- a Rotarian characteristic and aspiration.

The African Women’s Federation of SA (AWFOSA) is a community-based organisation which aims at empowering African women by equipping them with skills and knowledge that they need in order to be active participants and contributors, in their local and wider Australian Community as far as in, socio- economic, cultural and political aspects. The organisation, also provides core settlement services to ensures these women and their families successfully integrate into the Australian society.

The AIM of AWFOSA:

To encourage and provide a forum for African women’s views to influence policy in government and to ensure the accessibility to mainstream services, appropriate services, representation on decision making bodies and participation in all aspects of Australian society for African women and youth.

If you like to learn more about Constance and the incredible work she does- please check out the below links:

facebook.com/awfosa

www.awfosa.com

Our guest speaker tonight was Erfanullah Abidi from Rotary Club of Adelaide, he shared a very moving story of his and his family escape from Afghanistan.

Erfanulla was an interpreter in Support of Australia and NATO missions in Afghanistan. He is an experienced Security Officer with a demonstrated history of working with Afghanistan government and different local and International NGOs. He is skilled in Corporate Security, Security Operations, Legal Translation, Project Control, and Investigation. A strong military and protective service professional with a Bachelor’s in Law & Political Science.

Erfanulla Abidi is one of the lucky ones. He and his family were able to escape Afghanistan as it fell to the Taliban in August 2021.

Erfan recounted his harrowing and life-altering experience of escaping from the Taliban controlled Afghanistan.

Sharing us the story of how he was able to pass through different challenges and dangerous stages by taking serious risks to himself and his family in order to reach safety for his family.

Our club was very touched to listen to Erfan’s personal perspective on such a major world event. It was an emotional story to hear and it will stay forever in our hearts. We hope Erfan and his family find a new home in Adelaide.