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Meet Sana Mammo, Queensland Australian of the Year for
‘Local Hero – Metropolitan 2006’. Iraqi
born and with three children of her own,
Sana
sacrificed her career as a civil engineer to become director
and organiser of the inspirational Kidz 2 Kidz Project. The
project builds civil communities and bridges world peace
through children.
The Kidz
2 Kidz project began with
Sana’s
own concerns about the
misunderstandings many Australians have about what is
happening in
Iraq and in the Iraqi communities within Australia.
"The whole idea came about in March 2003 when the war
started with Iraq and Australia joined the coalition," she
says.
"My
nine year old daughter was
targeted with prejudiced comments at school such as this:
‘Your mother was born in
Iraq so we don't want to play with you if the war starts,
because Iraqi soldiers will be shooting Aussie soldiers’. I
felt straight away, if my daughter is targeted because of
the war, what will happen to the refugees, the genuine
refugees? How will they feel?"
Despite the prejudice towards
Sana’s
loved ones, she advocates tolerance
and compassion while amending ignorance and misunderstanding. "I
adore
Australia, and I believe it's not their (the public's) fault
because they really don't know what is going on. They hear
what the negative media is feeding back to them. So they
really need to hear the real story about the Iraqi people,
never mind the governments!"
Sana
approached schools where refugees were integrated with the
mainstream pupils and organised workshops to assist in the
integration. The result was the Kidz 2 Kidz CD – a
compilation of inspiring songs with lyrics written and
performed by children. As testament to children’s capacity
to forgive and the positivity of Sana’s work, the children
who previously targeted
Sana’s
daughter ended up singing with her daughter. Sana also
talks directly to communities and speaks publicly to various
organisations.
“When people meet you personally
they hear what you have to say in a different way. There is
no media, there is no tampering with the story and that's
how views can be changed.” |
