Anjum Nusrat Rahman is a leading and reassuring voice for ethnic women in this country, particularly Muslim women, and does not need any introduction.
A Chartered Accountant by profession, Anjum has always had a passion for building stronger communities.
And it was not surprising for a girl who had experienced isolation and exclusion throughout her childhood and adolescence for being the only ethnic Muslim kid in the neighbourhood in Hamilton when she was growing up.
In her own words, she had to wait right until university, after having lived her entire childhood in the traditional White Pakeha neighbourhood in Hamilton where she had first arrived with her parents when she was five years old, before being able to find friends she could relate to.
The experience she shared with her friends from ethnic migrant families in those early formative years have shaped her resolve and passion for working for creating a socially cohesive, inclusive Aotearoa.
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The story of Anjum Rahman from the early 1970s till the late 1980s was the same repeated story of an ethnic migrant minority kid having to undergo multiple struggles and inner-conversations in their attempt to come to terms with decisions of their parents to migrate to an altogether alien culture.
However, what happened soon after Anjum reached adulthood was a radically different script, as Anjum gradually untethered herself out of her comfort zone, to become the voice of an invisible community in this beautiful country, refusing to leave the task of shaping the kind of the world she wanted to raise her children for others.
She was involved in the establishment of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand in 1989 – a national organisation dedicated to providing a voice and representation for Muslim women – and became its first secretary.
Since then she is on a life-long journey of supporting and becoming the voice of the most invisible members of our ethnic communities in multiple capacities of media-spokesperson, trained human rights facilitator, strategic adviser and in governance roles to develop organisations which empower ethnic minority women.
She sits on a number of boards sharing her financial skills and consensus-building approach, fresh perspectives and strong community connections.
Among these are the current acting chair of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand where she has been engaging with Government and senior public servants to ensure they invest in and support social cohesion.
Since 2002 Anjum Rahman is the founding Member and Trustee of Shama (Hamilton Ethnic Women’s Centre) – an organisation provides support for women from ethnic minority communities.
Since September 2019 she is the Co-Chair of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network – a group from interested civil society groups, who represent a range of perspectives, including human rights, freedom of expression, digital rights, counter-radicalisation, victim support and public policy – and was selected as one of three to speak on behalf of the Network at the Leaders’ Dialogue in New York.
Also, in 2019 she founded the Inclusive Aotearoa Collective, Tahono, a project that will develop a national strategy for belonging and inclusion in New Zealand and implement it using the Constellation Model.
By all means, this is an unfinished task, and Anjum will continue to be the shining star of the Kiwi-Indian community.
The Indian Weekender salutes the grit, and dedication of Anjum Rahman in being the vociferous voice of our seemingly invisible communities that otherwise would often remain voiceless in Aotearoa.
Anjum Rahman is recipient of the Indian Weekender’s Kiwi-Indian Hall of Fame Community Service Excellence Award 2021.
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