Metro YAG gives Rumaysa hope
The metro YAG are now recruiting!
Rumaysa is a Law (Honours) & International Relations student at Monash University. Her passion for advocacy has led her to become a youth activist and volunteer for several organisations, one of which includes being a member of CMY’s metropolitan Youth Advisory Group (YAG).
“A lot of people in the advocacy space referred me to Ikram [Mahamed, CMY’s Culture Spring Project Officer]. After I found out about her work in the Muslim community and what CMY’s done, I wanted to be involved.”
Despite only being with metro YAG for 10 months, Rumaysa has already made incredible accomplishments both for her community and her professional development. Already no stranger to tackling and communicating about the issues faced by multicultural young people through her policy work, she still finds being a Youth Advisor extremely worthwhile. Just recently, she emceed Culture Spring’s TAKEOFF, a youth-led career and networking workshop hosted by the YAG, which she cited as one of the many opportunities unique to CMY.
“It was genuinely empowering and refreshing. A lot of the time in advocacy work, what we see are issues that are being presented, and nothing gets done. But TAKEOFF was a practical and sustainable initiative, and it was giving back to the community.”
Rumaysa felt that the workshop was a chance for young people to prove everyone wrong. The world sees her generation as “lazy” and “easily distracted,” but what she saw at TAKEOFF was people who were eager and passionate about their future, people who, up until then, had not gotten the direction and safety net necessary to take action.
“I think the preconception from the older generation is that the youth are lazy and that we kind of want everything given to us, and that’s why we don’t have interview skills or job skills. But the real reason is that we don’t have access to these opportunities… and [TAKEOFF] just gave us those practical skills and showed that it’s not actually that hard to get stuff done.”
And perspective was not the only thing Rumaysa gained from TAKEOFF. In addition to having her confidence reaffirmed by being an emcee at the event, she was also heavily involved behind the scenes in the planning and preparation. That gave her the comfort of knowing that she always had a team behind her, but also the responsibility of managing that team; having both was what really pushed her out of her comfort zone.
“I was nervous, considering how much went into the event. But I had amazing support from the CMY team, and everyone had such amazing initiative. So the hardest part was actually learning how to compromise… I’ve really learnt how to work with people effectively through this.”
To her, people and community have been both the reason and the reward for the work she has put in with metro YAG. The key to truly making an impact with volunteering is knowing that you are making a positive difference to everyone, not just yourself.
“You have to go in with the right reasons. Instead of thinking “What can it give me, what can I take from everybody?”, you have to go “What can I give back?”. And give it 100 per cent, because there is a lot you can do with volunteering, and there is so much it can give back to you.”
With that mindset, volunteering can become much more than just something to add to your résumé. It has been a “transformative experience” for Rumaysa, going beyond just learning new skills; it can “shape your identity” and determine your place in the world.
“It has given me hope for the future, that there’s actual change happening. There are a lot of people who are working alongside me; there are a lot of things that we can get moving forward together…. These people will be with you for a long time, and the community you build with them can last your lifetime.”
Now is your time to give volunteering with CMY a chance. We are recruiting for our metro Youth Advisory Group and the Western Young People’s Independent Network. Find out more about latest opportunities here.