Some six years ago, I met a remarkable woman who was attending Rotary North Melbourne along with a group of basketball players, known as the Black Rhinos.
Selba spoke about the extreme personal trauma she had suffered, but how she had overcome it by founding Afri-Aus Care, an organisation that supports African migrant communities around Dandenong, especially young men; keeping them from the justice system, or if necessary helping them navigate through it.
Selba’s passion was infectious, and I determined to try and find ways for Rotary Melbourne to complement the help already being extended by Rotary North Melbourne. So we engaged with Selba to identify how we could materially and practically support her work. This resulted in a number of initiatives:
Imagine our delight that Selba has been recognised with an OAM (Hon) in the Australia Day honours. We extend our hearty congratulations to her.
My hope would be that our partnership with Selba and Afri-Aus Care will continue in the years ahead.
PP Robert Fisher
-------------------------------------
They toil for others: Meet the Australia Day Honours community heroes
The Age by Carolyn Webb
January 25, 2025
Every Sunday, community elder Selba-Gondoza Luka visits a Parkville youth detention centre to cook food with young African offenders. But the sessions are not about the cuisine.
Over meals, and their making, and also through a basketball program run by her not-for-profit organisation, Afri-Aus Care, Luka asks the youths what their interests are, what they want to do in life.
Selba-Gondoza Luka, the founder and chief executive officer of Afri-Aus Care, has received an OAM in the Australia Day Honours. CREDIT: JUSTIN MCMANUS
Connections are forged. In time, inmates are given a mentor and are reconnected with relatives.
The positive outcomes Luka has seen warm her heart. One boy who was 14 when Luka met him at Parkville is now 22, released and studying for a criminology degree.
“There’s been a complete change. He’s working full-time and bought a car,” Luka says. “He’s on so much a better path, and oh my goodness, full of confidence! And he is now a mentor for others.”
Hugs and tears as Voice architect receives honour after ‘tumultuous’ year
For her years helping African immigrants, Luka is the recipient of an OAM (Honorary) in the Australia Day Honours. The “Honorary” is because she is still in the process of gaining Australian citizenship.
Luka is one of the many selfless community heroes among the 2025 honours list.
Her organisation, Afri-Aus Care, based in Springvale South in Melbourne’s south-east, is flourishing.
In 2018, referring to Luka’s work turning around the lives of young black men who were at risk of repeat offending, former homicide detective and then-Community Safety Trustee Ron Iddles referred to Luka as the modern-day Mother Teresa.
As well as the youth detention programs, Afri-Aus Care runs sports teams, mothers’ groups, homework and gardening clubs, employment networks, drug and alcohol services and social groups at its Springvale South centre.
Source: The Age
