Awards Magazine 2017

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The Community Leader Awards
2015
9 7
Manh Pham
Manh Pham:
The Catholic
faith is to
believe in
God. It’s very
important for
the Catholic
to believe in
God and in
the Maria
(Mary). Mary
and God are
always with
you. They
never leave
you alone.
2
0
1
7
Finalist - Community Leader of the Year 2017
What do you do in your community?
I used to be the president of the
Community in Brisbane. I assisted from treasurer in
2005 until 2014. I became the president for three years
in Vietnamese Catholic Community.
How did you get started?
I got started because in 2005 when we had no chaplain,
but I tried to help because I came from Vietnam. I re-
member when I left Vietnam my mum said to “believe
in God and when you get there, to try something, to
volunteer to do something”. I came to the refugee camp,
I started to sing in the choir. And in coming here I got
very lucky when in 2005 I got the chance to volunteer
to look after the Vietnamese Catholic Community
schedule when we had no chaplain. In 2014 we had a
chaplain come in. I tried to help to help the Vietnamese
community to move together.
What do you love about your role?
I love my role because I can be with the people, talking
with people. I can sit down and talk with them. Some
people they have family problems and children prob-
lems, and to try and believe in God. They have the chil-
dren because children in Vietnamese culture are very
important, to teach them and when we become too old,
all the young people will come up and will try to love
them, because I’m very happy to work with them.
Why is your Catholic faith important to
you?
The Catholic faith is to believe in God. It’s very impor-
tant for the Catholic to believe in God and in the Maria
(Mary). Mary and God are always with you. They never
leave you alone. If you have a problem and you believe
in God, they will look after you. They will give you a
hand when you are down. We are very strong about
that.
What was your reaction when you heard
you were a finalist for The Leaders?
I’m very surprised when my children said they did that
for me. I don’t think I should do that but when I see the
emails that my children did that for me I was very, very
happy and surprised. I’m humbled to receive this.