Another Rotary year begins

After 18 months at the helm, on July 1, 2021 Neville Page handed over to Sainab Sheikh as the new president of the Rotary Club of North Melbourne. 

Sainab came to Melbourne from Somalia 20 years ago via a refugee camp in Egypt.

Since arriving in Melbourne, she concentrated on educating herself and has completed a Bachelor of Social Work and Bachelor of International Community Development and is now studying an Applied Masters in Public Policy and Management and a Masters of Counselling. 

She has also obtained many different certificates and diplomas including a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and Certificate III in Aged Care. 

It can be easy when thinking about refugees to think that they are just a group of people leaving a life of poverty to better themselves but like most refugees Sainab was really fleeing for her life.

During the Military Junta she was at home with her two brothers, her mother, her uncle and her nephew. They entered the home and shot and killed all the males. 

Not long after arriving she started the Somalian Women’s Development Association and has been the driving force behind it ever since. When she was inducted as president in July she was also recognised for that work with the highest award in Rotary being a Paul Harris Recognition.

Another member, Larry Robb also received the same recognition for his valuable service to the club as well.

Another highlight of the meeting was the induction of a new member being Herbson Singo, who is from Malawi. 

In the previous issue we requested members of the community nominate someone for a volunteer award at our Phonse Tobin Awards night. There is still time to submit nominations and we advise a change of date to Thursday, October 28. Nominations need to be in writing to [email protected]

We are really looking forward to a great year under Sainab’s leadership and if anyone would be interested in enjoying the fellowship of our fun meetings every fortnight at the Mercure Hotel then just ring Neville Page on 0414 673 611 •