The College would like to congratulate our very own Ms Tanja on her nomination for this year’s "Baasila Women Acknowledging Women Awards 2019. The Baasila Awards are an incredible platform pioneered to celebrate the substantial contributions of Australian Muslim women. The inaugural Women Acknowledging Women Awards of 2018 celebrated the contributions of diverse Muslim women in our communities. Against a divisive and hostile backdrop, Muslim women continue to transcend social barriers and find opportunities in social conditions of adversity and discrimination.
Ms Tanja’s nomination read as follows:"We would like to introduce our super amazing nominee Tanja Kubitza:
Tanja grew up in a small town in Germany and holds an Honours Degree in Business Administration from Bremen University of Applied Sciences. As part of her studies, she spent a year in Malaysia to study and complete an internship with the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, planning and executing visits to aged care facilities, orphanages, homes for the blind and the underprivileged. It was during her stay in Malaysia and while travelling around Southeast Asia that she became interested in Islam and converted towards the end of her time abroad.
Tanja migrated to Australia in early 2006 and has been calling Melbourne her home ever since. She joined Al Siraat College in 2010 and soon after became the face of the school. She currently works as Registrar and Marketing Manager, looking after the College website and event photography. She is an active member of the Al Siraat family, often representing the school at community and interfaith events. She was the former Chair of the Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia (JCMA) and is an active member of Whittlesea Interfaith Network (WIN) since 2016.
While Tanja has loved cycling ever since she learnt how to ride a bike aged 4, she only picked up her passion for mountain biking in Melbourne. In 2013, she participated in the inaugural Great Cycle Challenge fundraiser for kids fighting cancer and hasn’t missed the annual fundraiser since, despite facing her own health issues. Tanja and her younger daughter Mariam have since raised 37,500 for much needed childhood cancer research at the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI), being one of top All Star fundraisers of the challenge. They even flew to NSW to meet with the event organisers, cancer researchers and scientists at the CMRI, and were shown around the labs and facilities.
In March this year, Tanja campaigned for “This Girl Can Victoria” and was featured in an inspiring local campaign video of "Whittlesea Girls Can", launched by the City of Whittlesea to encourage women not to be intimidated or scared of being active and playing sport. The campaign celebrates women getting active, regardless of background, agility, age of body shape.
Tanja volunteers for Benevolence Australia, particularly their Northern Hub and has hosted monthly convert get-togethers and the much loved “Iftar and Eid in Shed” events for several years, making use of the huge backyard shed on their previous property before it sadly got demolished.
Tanja has since moved to another rural property where she lives with her two gorgeous daughters, her cats and chicken. Where time and health allows it, she enjoys mountain biking or walking, reading and photography. She is engaged in interfaith and charity work and feels passionately about animal welfare, environmental issues and women’s empowerment.”
We wish Ms Tanja all the best with her nomination and pray that she goes from strength to strength with all these fantastic initiatives.