By example … St Albans’ Atem Ayuen Biar graduated from Brimbank Council’s Future Leaders program. 57502 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By Belinda Nolan
A financial advisor for the Footscray Community Legal Centre, the St Albans resident’s day job revolves around helping vulnerable people tackle the legal system.
Now, Mr Biar is dedicating his free time to his community.
Mr Biar was dubbed a leader of the community when he graduated from Brimbank Council’s Future Leaders program this month.
As part of the program, Mr Biar undertook a weekly course in environmental leadership, in the hopes of passing on his knowledge to his community.
A former refugee, Mr Biar was born in Sudan and grew up in Kenya.
He arrived in Australia in 2006 and quickly gained a following in Brimbank’s thriving refugee community.
Mr Biar said he jumped at the opportunity to learn more about the environment to share with others.
“Living in Kenya was totally different to living in Australia,” he said.
“Just getting food and water was a daily challenge.
“Everything we ate we had to grow ourselves so the environment was very important.
“I think that in Australia many people take it for granted because if they want food they just go and take money out of the ATM and buy it.”
Mr Biar joined more than 70 other participants from the council’s leadership programs on Wednesday, including members of the Muslim Women’s Leadership program, and the Vietnamese Leadershipprogram. The community leadership programs aim to help residents become involved in decision making.
