WACN brings together many prominent members of the African-Australian communities living in the city of Wyndham. Membership for WACN is both individual and corporate. Any African-Australian person can apply to join WACAN. We also accept applications for organisations, as long as they are signed by at least two executive members of that organisation. The list below is not an exhaustive one, there are many more members of the network who are not listed here.
- Dr Santino Atem Deng
Dr. Santino Atem Deng is the founder and CEO of African-Australian Family and Parenting Support Services (AFPSS). Dr Santino Atem Deng is an experienced counsellor, educator/trainer and researcher with over 15 years of work in education, mental health, family and parenting, and relationship counselling. His PhD was in the areas of psychology, education, sociology and migration studies in which he investigated changes within South Sudanese family dynamics and parenting practices in Australia
2. Barry Moustapha
Moustapha Barry is an engineer, originally from Senegal in West Africa and is now living with his family in Point Cook. Moustapha is currently working with NBN as a senior Manager in charge of analytics and activations performance across all States in Australia. Moustapha has been working in the Telecom industry in Australia for over 23 years. He moved to Melbourne 7 years ago and has been involved in various community initiatives, driven by his passion to make a difference in the society, be an ambassador for the African continent and helping others to achieve their best. in 2006 Moustapha decided to run for Wyndham City Council elections as a challenge to himself and as a way or proving to Africans and other minorities that it is important to get involved and bring positive answers and contributions to the issues facing the wide Wyndham Community. Moustapha believes that African-Australians and all other minorities have a duty to make their local community and the rest of Australia better places to be through positive contributions. This requires establishing platforms that give opportunities to reach out to others through inclusive actions and activities. Moustapha believes that WACN is one such platform and this is why he supports it.
3. Summayyah Sadiq-Ojibara
Summayyah Saiq-Ojibara is a Psychotherapist, Counselor, Life Coach, Mentor, Writer, Poet, Speaker, Social Entrepreneur, Community Worker, Creative Consultant, Producer and Director. Summayyah is a very dynamic member of the community, she is the CEO and Managing Director of ComXtra Knowledge Concepts, a consultancy that delivers Counselling, Coaching, Community and Creative Services. She is also the founder and CEO of Fitrah, a non-for-profit organisation in Victoria that helps people find connection and meaning in their life. Summayyah has worked and continues to work with various agencies and organisations both locally in Wyndham and across victoria and continues to serve in different roles and capacities in the community. Summayyah lives in Hoppers Crossing.
Dr William Abur is a lecturer in social work at Deakin University. He has worked in community service sector as a social worker in various roles such as in mental health, student wellbeing, settlement, cultural and diversity for over 15 years. He completed his PhD thesis “Settlement Strategies for the South Sudanese Community in Melbourne: An Analysis of Employment and Sport Participation” at Victoria University. He has published academic papers and articles in various media platforms. His research interests is the following areas social work practices, wellbeing for young people and families, racism and discrimination, trauma and resilience, refugee settlement and well-being and migrant’s participation in employment and sport.
