Running against the odds, CEO Claudia Fatone helped lead Lushani to a path of success

Social work student Lushani Hewage, 24, met Fitzroy Legal Service CEO Claudia Fatone, 44, through a mentoring program for girls in the child protection system. They have built a lasting friendship through running.

Lushani Hewage: "Claudia’s been a huge part in me taking those first steps to find out who I am."Credit: Josh Robenstone

Lushani: I am the youngest of four sisters. I lost my parents and one sister in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Sri Lanka. My mum’s younger sister was living in Australia, so my second-oldest sister and I came here when I was 11 – my eldest sister was over 18, so she stayed in Sri Lanka.

About a month after we got here, I was sexually abused. It went on for three years. I told a person who was close to me and I think she believed me, but she encouraged me to keep it a secret. I finally told my sister and she told a couple of her teachers at TAFE. They’re obliged to report this kind of thing, so child protection services became involved, and when I was 14, we were removed from the house.

In year 11, I was introduced to Claudia. My social worker saw Asista [a mentoring program run by YWCA] as an opportunity for me to normalise my teenage years – a lot had happened and I was very disconnected from my peers. This was someone who was going to be sensitive, who was older, with more life experience. I was a little apprehensive, but I was fairly open to trying to figure myself out.

Three months after we were matched I was like, “Do you want to run with me?” When you’re running, you just talk, and it just comes out naturally. As I progressed into getting better at running, it went in line with how we progressed through our relationship, where we became more comfortable with each other. We talked about really sensitive stuff, we had a laugh here and there, and it was never too serious. It was informal, which made it easy for me to open up.

My sister was secondarily affected by what happened with the sexual abuse, so there was never a point where I felt I could talk to her about it – so Claudia was, in a way, like a sister.

Claudia has pushed me out of my comfort zones. I remember she dropped me at the airport when I was leaving for Indonesia in 2015, and I had all these butterflies, like, “Oh my god, I’m going to a country I’ve never been to, I’m going to stay there for six months to live and study and be away from what I know.” And she was like, “Do it. If you don’t do it, you’ll always wonder what it would have been like. And if you go, if you find out, you’ll be better off.”

Claudia has always been really supportive when I’ve expressed that I want to do something I’ve never done before. She’s been a huge part in me taking those first steps to find out who I am, and that my identity is not tied to what happened to me – it’s what I make of it. The way that she lives her life – career, personal, social – all of that has rubbed off on me unconsciously.

I’ve signed up to be a mentor myself – I can’t wait. Someone I might be matched up with can benefit from what I’ve been through, and see that the end can be so good.

Claudia: I first met Lushani at a cafe near her home in Melbourne’s north-west seven or eight years ago. Straight away I got the sense that she was open to exploring a friendship. She was fairly reserved the first few times we caught up, but as you get to know each other and you get more comfortable, the relationship develops. Lushani and I became comfortable pretty quickly with each other’s company.

I’m a very sporty person and Lushani didn’t have a huge interest in sport, but she was trying to get fitter. She knew I liked to run and she asked me to be her running buddy. We started jogging and walking, and we built up her ability to jog for longer. I’d go there two or three times a week at 6am, and we’d run for half an hour to 45 minutes, and then she’d go to school and I’d go to work. We’d run at a relaxed pace, so it enabled us to talk. We were getting to know each other in a very easy sort of way.

It built up that she wanted to do a fun run, so we did the Mother’s Day Classic. I always walk it with my mum, an aunt, my partner and one of my sisters. My mum and another aunt have both experienced breast cancer, so we have a personal connection to the cause the walk supports. We built up to doing a 10-kilometre fun run as well.

Lushani’s resilience is incredible. Even early on, I felt that. She had a quiet determination to not let what had happened define her and stop her from achieving. It’s lovely to have seen her develop into the young person that she is today. She does a lot of things that I probably wouldn’t have done – she went overseas on university exchanges in Indonesia and Sweden. She’s probably had more life experience in her 24 years than I’ve had. It’s been lovely to see her have those opportunities, meet new people and work out her place in the world.

These days we don’t see each other heaps, but Lushani knows I’m always here for her. It’s lovely just to be able to keep the relationship going. Now we just catch up as two friends do – what’s going on with you, how’s life? I have a friend now who I wouldn’t have come across in any other walk of life – she’s much younger and has had a very different life experience. You learn things about life by engaging with somebody you wouldn’t have met otherwise, and it gives you a really great appreciation for what you have.

I’m a director of Cricket Victoria and I did try to influence Lushani to like cricket. She came to a T20 match with me but she wasn’t swayed, unfortunately. I tried! Her wife actually likes cricket, so we’re going to go even if Lushani doesn’t want to.

I feel Lushani’s part of my family. She’s met my partner, mum and sisters. Who knows what life has in store for us, but I hope that we can continue to be friends for many more years.

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