From newcomer to youth leader

Just two years later, he’s blazing trails and advocating for his peers, the youth of the Goulburn Valley.

The Year 12 Greater Shepparton Secondary College student spent his first nine months in Australia learning the language of his new home at the Shepparton English Language Centre.

Now, he is using his voice in his role as youth advisor and youth community engagement officer with state Member for Shepparton Kim O’Keeffe, where he contributes to community initiatives and engages with residents across Greater Shepparton.

“I attend every event in Shepparton to represent the youth of my school and community,” Safa said.

“I want all young people of the Goulburn Valley to know that I am here to support them.”

Last year, Safa’s leadership and advocacy were recognised when he received the Brian Birrell Advocacy Award at GSSC, which honours a student who demonstrates the same passion for fairness, courage and fighting injustice as the late Shepparton lawyer Brian Birrell.

Personally, he also successfully obtained his Victorian driver’s licence in 2025 after learning to drive with the L2P program.

This year, Safa is one of 27 multicultural student leaders at GSSC, who represent as many different cultures.

GSSC multicultural liaison leader Hussam Saraf said there were 35 languages spoken at the school.

“Safa was always passionate about making a difference,” he said.

“I see myself in him when I came to Australia (from Iraq in 2009).

“We lost a lot, that’s why when we come, we try to gain as much as possible, we try to get it back.

“Some lost jobs, some lost family members, some lost education.”

Mr Saraf said it was not about them as individuals, but it was about giving back to the communities that had welcomed them.

Safa’s doing exactly that, having gotten stuck straight back into community work this year, helping with donations and support for Greater Shepparton’s bushfire-affected neighbours and planning an upcoming youth forum — his initiative — which will bring together young leaders to share aspirations and their ideas for the future.

“Helping one person creates a chain of support, where every young person in our community lifts each other up,” Safa said.

Safa came to Australia from Afghanistan with his mum and his three sisters.

Sadly, he lost his father to brain cancer six years ago.

“My mum is a stay-at-home mum, she is safe. She was a teacher in Afghanistan,” Safa said.

“She is always proud of me and my sisters and we always try to make her proud because she became our dad and our mum.

“I really love my mum, she’s so sweet to me.”

He said being unable to speak English and grief after losing her husband had stopped his mum from working in Australia, but the opportunities for his sisters in Australia were what motivated him.

His older sisters are enrolled in tertiary education, while his younger sister also attends GSSC.

“The door of the school was locked for the girls in Afghanistan and I really like they are now studying and living in a peaceful area,” he said.

Safa represented regional Victoria at Youth Parliament last year.

“We are the future of Australia and we need to make something special of our community that makes a good community in the whole of Australia,” he said.

Safa said the biggest issues affecting youth currently were language barriers, mental health and the cost of living.

He also flagged navigating public transport, train and bus services, as problematic for the Goulburn Valley’s multicultural youth in particular.

On top of his advocacy work, Safa is applying himself diligently to his Year 12 studies to get the ATAR score he needs to be accepted into biomedicine at Melbourne University next year.