2024 Women to Watch
This year we showcase over 80 South Australian women to watch throughout the year. From business, to careers, arts to science. This year’s selected women highlight the depth and diversity of the women in our state and also the vast array of opportunities to develop a business or career in South Australia. Find our more about our inaugural Women to Watch initiative here.
Esther Simbi is a former South Sudanese refugee, the youngest of six children, and a single mother of two beautiful daughters. Esther is a polio survivor, the Founder and Managing Director of Zion Disability Services Inc and Esther Writes In English, a social worker, a mediator, an award-winning author, a motivational speaker, a disability community educator, a disability advocate, events manager, organiser and coordinator, and a member of the Rotary Club of Campbell Town. Esther is the first African woman from a refugee background to run for Parliament in Australia to represent people with disability in the Upper House. Esther is a two-time community volunteer award-winner for leading women from a refugee background in Australian politics and for her work with African women with disability in South Australia. Esther also won the Author and Publisher of the Year 2022 Award in May 2022 as part of the Annual Africa Day Celebration in Adelaide. Esther holds a bachelor’s degree in social work and a master’s degree in Mediation and Conflict Resolution from the University of South Australia.
// Favourite inspirational quote
Disability Is Not Inability.
// Let’s get to know you
Esther is a 42-year-old dark brown skin woman with brown hair and brown eyes. Esther is originally from South Sudan. Esther was born into a peasant family where she grew up in extreme poverty both in South Sudan and in refugee camps in Uganda. Esther came to Australia as a refugee in July 2005 and resettled in the North Eastern Suburbs of Adelaide. Esther is no longer a refugee, but she identifies as a refugee migrant with a disability. Esther contracted polio in South Sudan as a four-year-old girl and she survived it. Esther lives with the late effects of polio and a physical disability. Esther is a single mother of two daughters aged 7 and 13 years old. Esther is a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree holder in social work and in mediation and conflict resolution.
Esther is the founder and managing director of Zion Disability Services Inc and Esther Writes In English. Esther is a disability advocate and an entrepreneur. Esther’s work ethics and positive approach to life has brough her to where she is right now. Esther is friendly, kind, polite, approachable, genuine, honest, loving and she has a calming demeanour.
Esther first came into the spotlight in 2006 when she volunteered with the Australian Migrant Resource Centre (AMRC) formerly known as the Migrant Resource Centre of South Australia (MRCSA) as a Resettlement Officer, advocating for the rights of refugee migrants especially those with disability and helping refugee migrants with completing their resettlement requirements such as assistance with opening a bank account, registering with Centrelink, attending information sessions with the police, cancer council of South Australia, enrolling to English classes, TAFE, college and or to the University as well as making referrals to the Migrant Health Services for their first resettlement health assessment or support. As part of her volunteer role, social work student placement, and cultural awareness education with the AMRC, Esther established the first Sudanese Women’s Support Group in South Australia to provide education to the Sudanese women about Australian culture and what their rights are in their new country. Esther was barely one year old in Australia at the time.
In 2008 and in 2009, Esther was invited by the Government’s Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to talk to their team meetings about appropriate ways of working with refugees and survivors of torture and trauma, following the tragic stabbing of the Sudanese school boy in Adelaide CBD, to educate the government especially the police on appropriate ways of working and engaging with refugee migrants and survivors of torture and trauma. Through her final Social Work Student Placement with the Department of Child Protection formerly known as Families SA’s Refugee section of the department, Esther provided cultural competence training to colleagues and to fellow students on placement to raise cultural awareness and to learn appropriate ways of working with refugees and survivors of torture and trauma.
As part of her Masters degree in Mediation and Conflict Resolution at the University of South Australia, Esther joined Elder Mediation Australia to educate the Australian community about the African culture where the elderly stay in their family home and they will be looked after by their children which Esther knew would no longer be the case in Australia. Esther also joined Elder Mediation Australia to educate the African community about aging, to process to take, in order to receive aged care in-home packages, in-home support, community access, retirement living, and how to access nursing homes. In partnership with COTA SA, Esther provided community education on ageing to the African Community in South Australia in 2015 and in 2016 through delivering workshops.
In 2014, Esther founded the Crossing the Bridge Project to support African Women with Disability in South Australia. In order to receive government funding, Esther had to link with a multicultural organisation and Esther was able to link with the Young Women’s Christian Association in Adelaide. Through this project, Esther provided community education on disability awareness and the types of disability as well as group activities including sewing classes, cooking, and network support group. Esther was not able to return to work with the Young Women’s Association in 2018 following her two years of unpaid maternity leave because the name and the focus of the project had changed.
Esther is an award-winning author. In 2019 and in 2021, Esther published two books titled Beyond Calamity and Blessed about living with disability and parenting with disability to educate people about the challenges faced by people living with disability on a daily basis and the challenges associated with parenting with disability.
Esther is a public motivational speaker. Esther has spoken in so many community events and conferences all over the country including the Australian Women In Leadership Online Conference in 2022, The WILD CO Conference in 2022 in Melbourne with Dylan Alcott, the Disability Royal Commission Public Hearing 17 in Hobart and 29 in Melbourne in 2022, the SA Woman 2023 Submit, the Flinders University 2012 and 2013 International Women’s Conference and many others.
Esther also contributed to the Flinders University’s 2021 and 2022 Disability Research Projects.
// What makes you a Woman to Watch for 2024?
I believe I am a woman to watch in 2024 because I live with disability and I have a big heart to support and advocate for refugee migrants with disability including CALD women with disability. I am a Disability Community Educator, a Disability Advocate, a Volunteer, and a philantropist. I have been volunteering for CALD people with disability including Refugee Migrants with disability since 2006. I provide Community Education on Disability, the Types of Disability, Stigma and Shame and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). I provide Case Based Advocacy to people living with disability including those from CALD backgrounds. I provide NDIS Tribunal Case Based Advocacy to people living with disability including those from CALD backgrounds. I connect people living with disability including those from CALD backgrounds to the NDIS. I promote disability, cultural, and social inclusion, and I also promote community connections, engagement and participation through organising community events to celebrate people with disability including CALD women and refugee migrants with disability to make them feel like they matter and that they belong.
// What are you most looking forward to in 2024?
I am most looking forward to supporting and advocating for people with disability including those from CALD backgrounds and refugee migrants with disability to access the NDIS, to navigate the system, and to access support services in the community. I am also looking forward to my writing business thriving and taking some time off work in 2024 to be with family.
// What would being a Woman to Watch mean to you?
It would mean that even if I have a disability, I can still make a difference in my own life and someone’s life to live a successful life, to motivate others and to contribute into the Australian Society. Making a difference in the community and in the lives of people living with disability and their families, carers, and communities including those from CALD backgrounds is what I am all about. Hopefully through being a woman to watch in 2024, other women and young girls with disability including those from CALD backgrounds can follow in my footsteps.
// What would you like to see for the future of South Australian women and girls?
I would like to see more representation of women and girls in South Australia in the workforce, sports, and in the media including those with disability and those from CALD backgrounds including CALD women and refugee migrants with disability.
I would also like to see more acceptance and inclusion of women living with disability including those from CALD backgrounds in the community and in the workplace.
Get in touch with Esther:
LinkedIn: Esther Simbi
Website: www.ziondisabilityservices.org.au
Check out all of the incredible Women to Watch for 2024 here as their profiles are uploaded throughout the year.
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