Lizzy Kuoth

Lizzy’s Kuoth’s story is an inspiring example of finding strength in adversity and stepping into your power.

At the end of 2002, 11-year-old Lizzy escaped from war-torn South Sudan in Africa, with her grandmother, younger siblings and cousin, seeking safety as a refugee in Egypt. Like many South Sudanese people, the civil war forced them to leave their home country. Her grandmother Nyaluak had risked everything for a better life.

On her arrival in Australia in 2005, she faced many of the same challenges as most non-English speaking arrivals with a refugee background – from not speaking the language to feeling isolated and struggling to fit in.

Things slowly started to change as she went into volunteering and began to immerse herself into giving back. She surrounded herself with different people from different communities advocating for social justice. And she realised that community service was giving her an outlet that she didn’t know was possible.