You are Invited to celebrate: International Women’s Day with the Zonta Club of Noosa.

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  • Guest Speaker: Frederika Steen (Refugee Advocate)
  • Frederika was born in a war zone (occupied Holland 1944). Her father was active in the Dutch Resistance during the World War 2 and her family was hidden from the Dutch Nazis by strangers.
  • Frederika’s profound sense of gratitude to these strangers influenced much of her later life. Her family migrated to Australia in 1950.
  • After initially working as a high school teacher Frederika joined the public service in Canberra. She has been actively involved in community, refugee, multicultural and human rights activities for over thirty years. She was the inaugural head of the Women’s Desk in the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs focussing on providing information and building up the confidence of migrant women to “do it for themselves”.
  • She volunteered for six months in one of Thailand’s largest refugee transit camps at Phanat Nikhom after which she became an increasingly vocal advocate for refugee rights and was named ‘Canberran of the Year’ on her return.
  • After a distinguished career in settlement services in the Department of Immigration and three years as the Chief Migration Officer in the Australian Embassy in Germany, Frederika retired.
  • In retirement, she has served on the Board of the Multicultural Development Association and volunteers at the Romero Centre, a refugee support and advocacy hub in Brisbane.
  • In 2014 she was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to refugees and asylum seekers in a voluntary capacity.

 

 

*Want to know more about International Women’s Day: