I am very honoured, privileged and humbled to announce that I’ve been unanimously elected as the president for Whittlesea Interfaith Network. I’m also incredibly pleased to announce that my good friend and colleague Ms Tanya Kubitza has been unanimously elected as Vice President of Whittlesea Interfaith Network, making us the first Muslim women to be elected for both leadership positions.
I hope that through this platform we’re able to continue building on the good work of the outgoing president, Reverend Margaret Hartley and the entire previous executive teams, in building greater social cohesion and harmony in our community.
During the year ahead I hope to lead our team in forming new partnerships, with a focus on young people and our local indigenous community, as well as strengthening existing partnerships to deliver a robust calendar of events and programs.
Together with the newly elected executive team, we look forward to continuing a second year of the Interfaith Youth Forum project, taking a grassroots approach to countering racial and religious discrimination.
We look forward to using ethical storytelling to capture and share a collection of stories through the Women of Faith – Footsteps to Whittlesea program.
Our aim is and has always been to establish platforms for greater interfaith dialogue as a pathway to greater social cohesion.
Together with our executive team and our partners, we look forward to driving the WIN team forward, in being able to reach a broader audience through a stronger social media presence and greater collaborations in the year ahead.
I’d like to thank Reverend Margaret Hartley for her diligent leadership and support over the year and for nominating me to have this opportunity to lead the Whittlesea Interfaith Network moving forward.
I’d like to also thank Mr Fazeel and Ms Rahat, founders of Al Siraat College, for their ongoing support and advocacy of Interfaith dialogue, as is reflected in our Sunnah. And also Mufti Aasim Rashid for his guidance and active support of many interfaith initiatives over the years.
We live in unprecedented times where interfaith dialogue and collaboration has never been more important to build communities where people approach one another with curiosity and compassion and treat one another with respect and friendship.
These are traits already prevalent within the Whittlesea Interfaith Network team who I’m incredibly honoured to now be given the opportunity to lead in serving our community.
