Anti-racism campaigner Lena Nabizada named Toowoomba Youth Citizen at 2024 Australia Day

Year 12 student Lena Nabizada balances her studies with a packed conference speaking schedule, youth and environmental advocacy and running workshops designed to end racism in schools. This is why she was named our Young Citizen of the Year.

Emigrating from Afghanistan to Australia as a nine-year-old with limited English was a daunting prospect for Lena Nabizada.

The studious young girl did not know what to expect and worried her family would not fit into what was a predominantly white, Christian city.

But she found a community that welcomed her family openly.

Sadly this experience is not shared by all migrants, and through her work as a youth advocate Lena started to hear stories that upset her.

Not content to let it slide, Lena launched Strive Connecting, an outreach program that brings together high school students and young people to discuss racism and develop strategies to end it.

“Through my youth work I was hearing about the issues young people were facing, and a lot were expressing that they experienced racism,” Lena said.

“I saw that as a field I wanted to explore.”

Lena Nabizada is the Toowoomba Young Citizen of the Year presented at Toowoomba Australia Day Awards at Picnic Point, Friday, January 26, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Lena said education was key, and she looked for a way to celebrate difference, rather than fear or exclude it.

“In the workshop we talk about what racism is, and we share our experiences,” she said.

“We look at what the next step is, then we go back to our schools and develop activities that celebrate our cultures, and we talk about our backgrounds and make activities.”

Over time this process of inclusion breaks down the barriers between cultures.

“We are all human at the end of day,” she said.

Lena’s work with inclusion and racism has taken her across Australia and overseas to address conferences in Malaysia and Singapore.

She uses the power of social media to spread her message of unity and diversity, while also hosting a program in Radio Persia, where she helps the Persian and Dari speaking community.

Lena is also active in the ZeroPositive advisory group where she advocates for environmental causes.

Through all her work, Lena has advocated for issues that she is passionate about while also staying up to date with her studies having started her final year at Fairholme College.

She said these opportunities to excel would not have been possible if her family had stayed in Afghanistan.

“My parents are very proud of what myself and my sisters have achieved, but mostly they are grateful that we are living in a country where we can express what we are passionate about,” she said.

For these reasons, Lena was named Toowoomba’s Young Citizen of the Year for 2024.

Originally published as Anti-racism campaigner Lena Nabizada named Toowoomba Youth Citizen at 2024 Australia Day