My Journey from Disability and Disaster to Possibility and Empowerment

From writing sums in the dirt with her finger at a poor village school in South Sudan, Esther Simbi rises above disability to become a Social Worker and Disability and Human Rights advocate in Australia.

Giving voice to the voiceless is her passion. She believes that disability is not inability, age is just a number, and ‘refugee’ is just a label.

From polio at age four, through nineteen years in refugee camps in Uganda, Esther’s stories of life in South Sudan and as a refugee will move, shock and inspire you..

About the Author

Esther Simbi is living proof that disability and disadvantage need not define us. She has overcome incredible odds: losing health, family, home, and community; surviving rape; and living as a refugee for nineteen years. She was the first African woman from a refugee background to run for parliament in South Australia, where she represented people with disabilities. Education, she believes, is the key to empowerment, and she works tirelessly to empower those who do not have a voice, or have not yet found their voice, to lessen inequality and disadvantage.