On December 6, 2018, NYU Sydney’s Global Equity Fellow, Juliana Maia led a group of students to Summer Hill to visit the Four Brave Woman initiative.

Four Brave Woman is a project that works to empower refugees by providing a commercial kitchen and seating area for use as a restaurant. Refugees are invited to spend eight weeks at the location cooking for paying customers and managing daily operations.

Customers are invited to enjoy lunch or dinner six days a week. At the end of each eight week period the goal is for participants to gain enough experience and capital to establish their own business. Juliana and her friends were treated to a wonderful Iraqi meal followed by an opportunity to talk with their hosts and staff. During this conversation the students learned that the Four Brave Women initiative is receiving international recognition for its work and requests to sponsor similar initiatives in other parts of the globe. It was a great afternoon for our students and hands-on experiences are a great reminder of the value of the Global Equity Fellowship at NYU Sydney.

At NYU Sydney Global Equity Fellows are encouraged to provide opportunities for their peers
to not only explore individual identity but to also explore the lived experiences of individuals within the local community. By connecting with members of the Australian public, students can learn about the aspects of identity that are salient for people living in another part of the world. Opportunities for students to learn about the interplay between national identity and other aspects of social identity are characteristic of the invaluable learning that occurs when students study away.