For all the Sattler/Jones/Sandilands scandals stemming from the wireless, Canberra’s 104.7FM presenter Mariam ‘Maz’ Hakim is restoring hope in the medium, literally.
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The 28-year-old Afghan-born radio announcer is the ACT ambassador for World Refugee Week which kicked off with a breakfast on Tuesday, and for all the bile and bitterness expelled by radio hosts recently, she is a breath of fresh air.
The bubbly radio star, who has quickly risen through the Southern Cross Austereo ranks, is using her role as a pop-music-loving-refugee-advocate to spread the word about the 2013 World Refugee Week slogan “restoring hope”.
“Some people may thing that pop culture, and especially today’s pop music, is vapid and the artists have no substance which is completely not true. Pitbull and Psy are two huge international artists who are really making a contribution to the diversity discussion via their music and projects,” she said.
“We have our own stars here in Australia too, just look at Jessica Mauboy and Timomatic. I’ve interviewed them both numerous times and they always talk about their heritage and backgrounds. For Jess, her indigenous roots are very important to her and Tim, he’s a refugee just like me, it’s great to see them both achieving so much – not just professionally but personally as well.
“Pitbull may be one of the most mocked artists these days but he is someone who is actively addressing social change in his music. He regularly references his Cuban culture and sings in Spanish – yet his music is in the Top 40 mainstream charts and being consumed by the vast audience pop music attracts all around the world.”
Energetic and warm on air, Ms Hakim, spends her days interacting with listeners, gossiping about celebrities and spinning the latest hits – a far cry from her first Australian experience inside Villawood Detention Centre in the late 1980s.
“We drove past it [Villawood] about six months ago just by chance. My parents were in the car and they pointed to it and said that is where we first stayed. It's scary to think my fate could have been behind those walls, but back then it was a sort of hostel for refugees. They would house refugees and migrants who first arrived and didn't have anywhere to stay. Now it is very different and I think my lucky stars every day that we aren't there now. Had my parents not escaped back then, that could have easily been my destiny.”
“My parents escaped Afghanistan during the Russian invasion on horseback in the middle of the night. They paid a smuggler to help them escape with three children, one being six months old, the other was 7-years-old and the eldest was nine. I was yet to be born. If you got caught it was conscription and death on the spot. But my parents were dreamers and knew there was something better out there. They hoped and dreamed for a better life for their family. After my parents escaped Afghanistan, they crossed the border into Pakistan which is where I was later born.”
During World Refugee Week she will be working with a group of disadvantaged multicultural youths and hosting the Walk Together – Welcome to Australia Walk, which will start at 1pm on Saturday June 22 from Reconciliation Place.
