NSW Local Hero Rosemary Kariuki helps refugee women overcome domestic violence in Western Sydney

Rosemary Kariuki didn’t know anyone when she arrived in Sydney from Kenya in 1999.

In her suitcase was a few hundred dollars, some clothes and several gifts to give strangers.

“I thought wherever I’m going, I’ll go and get some friends,” she said.

“So, I bought some gifts, some African artefacts, I bought some teabags, and I said, ‘I’m going to make friends’.”

It didn’t take long for her to deliver on this promise to herself.

Rosemary made her first friend at the airport — an Ethiopian woman who was dropping off a friend for a flight — who listened to her story about escaping tribal wars and domestic violence.

She has spent the past two decades returning the favour by helping isolated migrant and refugee women overcome domestic violence…