Differences in culture and background are simply that – differences. Not better or worse, simply different. Khadija Gbla is a cultural consultant and peer educator with unmatched ability to bridge the difference. Khadija provides advocacy, training, speaking on domestic and family violence, sexual health, racism, human rights, mental health, migrants and refugees and cultural diversity.
Born in Sierra Leone, Khadija Gbla spent her youth in Gambia before putting down roots in Australia. Now Executive Director of No FGM Australia, she advocates for protection and support for women and girls living with or at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM). She has advised on policy through the South Australian Government Minister’s Youth Council and has represented Australia at the Commonwealth Youth Forum and Australian and African Dialogue. Khadija has been recognized through numerous awards for her vision and leadership.
Khadija is the Co founder of The Desert Flower Center Australia. The Desert Flower Australia is the first centre in Australia and the Asian pacific region that specialises in providing holistic, comprehensive gynaecological, urological reconstructive surgery and trauma informed care for women impacted by female genital mutilation. The centre also provides training for professionals, advocacy and community education for practicing communities in Australia. Khadija is also a TEDX speaker with close to 2 Million views on her talk, “My mother’s strange definition of empowerment”.
Khadija encourages people to challenge their understandings of the world around them, and to question the uncritical acceptance of stereotypes and assumptions that are made about unfamiliar cultures.
Stay up to date with Khadija Gbla on Twitter.
Testimonials
Hi Khadija, Thank you for your incredible story today – you brought tragedy, great humour, insightfulness, and so much warmth to our event. Take good care of yourself, I will be sharing your message! Jo
Thank you sooooo much for your today. I am totally under your spell. You are truly amazing, I didn’t want your talk to finish…
Hi Khadija, just wanted to connect and say thank you for your powerful keynote at the Women in Super lunch in Melbourne today. You raised some big issues that I don’t think would be front of mind for many in the audience.
I wanted to say thank you for your incredible session yesterday at the Women in Super lunch. I was blown away by your honesty and point of view but more than both of those your authenticity and commitment to change within your span of control and acknowledging that that span can grow larger. This really resonated with me along with the realisation that I have been trained to act dumber to get a message across to men in the industries I work in. You would have shaken a lot of people up with your rawness, and it needs to happen especially within the superannuation industry. I am glad to have met you and had my eyes opened even wider to challenges that many experience. So thank you so much – for being yourself and wanting to make the world a better place!
I hope we cross paths again!