Given her special connection with our area, Rosemary Kariuki, OAM, will be at the Kiama Farmers’ Market tomorrow selling and signing her recently published memoir, A Joyful Life.

Many locals know Rosemary through her cultural exchange weekends which have brough refugee/migrant women, and now men, into our region. Or through the documentary about her, Rosemary’s Way, some of which is set in Gerringong and Kiama.

Rosemary has single-handedly changed many people’s lives through her work as the Multicultural Community Liaison Officer for the Campbelltown Police, her cultural exchange program or her African Women’s Dinner Dance and African Village Market.

She specialises in helping migrants who are facing isolation, domestic violence, language barriers and financial distress. She has single-handedly changed many people’s lives. Positivity and laughter are her secret weapons.

Rosemary’s story is remarkable. As a young girl in 1999, she fled sexual abuse, rape, family abuse and tribal violence in Kenya and arrived in Australia with no friends to a strange culture.

Within two decades, she received the Australian Local Hero award in 2021 and an OAM in 2022.

Rosemary says: “I wrote this book to bring empowerment, solace, wisdom, hope, and information to refugees, asylum seekers and minorities all around the world, especially women, to show that even through your darkest and gloomy times, you can persevere and regain your internal strength many have within them.”

Maria Baden, a Gerringong farmer and Kiama’s Citizen of the Year in 2022 who features in Rosemary’s Way, first met Rosemary in 2009.

“She was conducting a peace circle [in Sydney] for women from different cultures, religions, ethnicities [the peace circle comes under the umbrella of Initiatives of Change, which is a worldwide organisation].

“Then in 2010, Rosemary called and said, Maria, you’re on a farm. Can I bring a few women down? And I said, Of course, you can. Then I found out it was 35 women to stay for two nights and I said, Hang on, I don’t have enough room for them all to stay!

And she said, Oh no, we will go out and find billets.

“That’s when I found out that Rosemary is a mover and shaker.

Rosemary and Maria at Rose Valley

“I think the title of her memoir – A Joyful Life – sums her up. No matter how bleak the situation is, Rosemary raises you up, she never loses that sense of the joy of life.

“Her joy is infectious. I know that myself because there are times when I’ve been down in the dumps, then Rosemary rings or appears you can’t not be positive.

“She’s really all about giving people hope. She believes nothing is insurmountable. She doesn’t just say it, but she will go out of her way to put people in touch with those that can make a difference in their lives.”

Rosemary writes: “When in doubt, pray, meditate, journal or simply talk to your higher self. First, start with gratitude. Second, ask for the things you need. Third, look for the miracles.”

Rosemary will be based near Maria’s Schottlander’s Meats stall at the Kiama Farmers Markets on Wednesday March 29, 3-6pm.