#6. Flourishing Across Cultures: How a Filipino-Australian Is Empowering Refugees and Championing First Nations Justice

In this wide-ranging conversation, Filipino-born community-development leader Marbuen Diaz joins AmickyCarol from Sydney to unpack what “flourishing” really means for newcomers, refugees and First Nations peoples. From building leadership pipelines in Burmese refugee churches to challenging Australia’s dominant systems to become culturally intelligent, Diaz shows how a life shaped by racism can bloom into a ministry of radical welcome and justice.

Key take-aways

• Born in Mindanao and transplanted to Sydney at 10, Diaz now oversees Community Development & Intercultural Ministries for the Baptist Association NSW/ACT.
• Guides migrant families through jobs, housing and language hurdles while training mainstream institutions in cultural intelligence.
• Mentors emerging leaders inside Myanmar-origin refugee congregations so local voices—not external experts—shape community futures.
• Advocates that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples never ceded their land, urging settlers to self-educate rather than burden First Nations educators.
• Recounts personal encounters with racism—and the kindness that convinced him humanity can choose compassion.
• Explains the weight of inter-generational trauma carried by refugee families and why healing cannot be rushed.
• Sydney travel tips: Opera House & Harbour Bridge, Blue Mountains, native “bush tucker”… plus the reality of brown snakes and red-back spiders!
• Top border-crossing hack: “If it’s alive — or was recently alive — don’t pack it.”
• Calls on listeners to pick one concrete justice step—from learning First Nations history to supporting refugee-led projects—and start today.

“Everyone heals in their own time and way; our role is to give people space, not deadlines.” — Marbuen Diaz

Chapters

• 0:44 Meet Marbuen Diaz: Cultural Bridge Builder
• 2:25 Flourishing Communities: Diaz's Mission Explained
• 4:50 Encouraging Bilateral Cultural Transition
• 9:00 Australia Travel Tips - Sites to Sees & Animals to Avoid!
• 12:05 International Influences in Australian Cuisine
• 13:02 First Nations Justice and Australian History
• 14:09 Cultural Identity and Intergenerational Trauma
• 16:55 Cultural Pilgrimage to Integrating Multiple Identities
• 19:04 Further Thoughts on Refugee Suffering & Intergenerational Trauma
• 21:17 Understanding Complexity of Trauma
• 22:25 Australian Border - Advice for Entering

Transcript

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 0:02

Hey, world Changers, welcome to your podcast. I'm Aniki Carroll and I travel the world with a sense of adventure and purpose, exploring, learning, having fun and meeting remarkable individuals who are transforming their communities and beyond. Join me as we dive into the inspiring journeys of changemakers from every corner of the globe, tuning in weekly for stories that might just change your life, ignite your passion and show you how ordinary people can create extraordinary impact. Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform and follow us on social media at World Changes PC and get ready to take off. Hi, welcome, mabu, and lovely to see you. I think the last time we met was in September, wasn't it? Yeah, at the Lausanne conference, fantastic. So just for my guests, my listeners, could you tell me first of all introduce yourself, who you are and what you do currently?

Marbuen Diaz: 1:09

Yep, so my name is Marbuen Diaz, I am an ordained church minister and I work with what's called the Baptist Association. I have oversight over two areas. One is in community development, including disaster relief within our state, and the second one is what's just called intercultural ministries, which means working with culturally, linguistically diverse churches, communities, diaspora, migrant groups.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 1:39

Okay, so your name is Marbuen Diaz, so it's not really easy to guess what your ethnicity is, but do I detect an Australian accent there? What would be, you know, cultural heritage.

Marbuen Diaz: 1:53

Yeah, it's a bit of a confused one. So I was born in Mindanao, Philippines, so that's all the way down south of the Philippines, Lived 10 years of my life there. That's why I know two languages from that country. And then moved to Australia when I was 10 years old and learned how to speak Australian, Even though there is a bit of an American accent there you can kind of hear it because of the American influence in Philippines. And my name just to confuse things even further is Spanish.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 2:24

Yep, so you're a real child of the world, as it were, a global city. That's really good. Tell me a little bit about your work, really what you do particularly. I'm very interested in the community development, but please do feel free to share your heart, because you are for me, the typical world changer from a different country, but changing the world in the world where you inhabit, as it were. Tell me what that's about.

Marbuen Diaz: 2:57

Yeah, no, I appreciate you saying that.

Marbuen Diaz: 2:59

Immigrant here to Australia, coming to Australia when I was young and then navigating what was where I was not the dominant group, when I was a minority group and I was made to feel like a minority group.

Marbuen Diaz: 3:14

So for me that's really sent me into this formation in terms of what does it mean to be a flourishing community? What does it mean to be a refugee or an alien or an immigrant in a country but trying to call it home? And so that sent me into the work of church ministry firstly. Then, after that, knowing that the communities actually needed practical help, that's when I started exploring community development work. I started doing some education work as well and more recently some mental health counseling kind of work as well. And so now I've found myself because I've been a church minister for more than 25 years, I'm finding myself having oversight over these church sorry, these culturally, linguistically diverse communities, primarily in churches, but having a variety like all the way, like just people who want to migrate to Australia, but also UG backgrounds as well. And so I've found myself, because of my own personal experience, arriving now at our place where I want to help families to transition into that as well, I love that.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 4:26

I mean I really like the word flourishing. Now, at our place, where I want to help families to transition into that as well, I love that. I mean I really like the word flourishing. I mean, when I think about my own core values and the things that I aspire to do, I always imagine the world returning to Eden, a place of flourishing. You know, and whatever I do, whether it's about working with economically marginalized or more disadvantaged groups, it's about helping them to flourish. So tell me exactly what it is you do and the outcomes from the work that you do with these communities.

Marbuen Diaz: 4:57

Yeah, yeah.

Marbuen Diaz: 4:58

So I mean, currently the main thing I'm doing in helping is that there is because, like I mentioned, that these communities, these migrant communities, sometimes refugee communities, they are the minority, so there is the dominant culture with its dominant systems that just assumes that everyone fits into that system, and so one of the main things I'm doing is helping, on one end, help these migrants transition and you know, a parent's perspective to a child's perspective, to a grandparent's perspective, is quite different.

Marbuen Diaz: 5:33

They're going through different kinds of transitions and so helping communities, whether they're part of a family or they're individual, transition into this dominant culture. That is a very foreign kind of way of doing things. So trying to help them transition practically, whether it's getting a job or finding a place where they can meet as a community, different things like that. On the second level, I'm also helping the dominant culture, systems and processes change and adapt so that it's there is more cultural intelligence within the pathway, systems and processes, because I think, in the end, our systems and processes would want to serve the people rather than the other way around yeah, especially when you have immigrant communities and it's all changing.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 6:24

I love that. It sounds quite bespoke, though. I mean, what's the team like? Because I mean not one size fits all and I guess people's needs will be different, so it must be hard going sometimes. I mean, are there some particular stories that highlight how important this is and the effectiveness of what you're doing on both sides for the dominant culture, but also for the immigrant culture?

Marbuen Diaz: 6:50

Yeah, I think there's certainly some stories there. There's plenty actually. But I guess where my mind comes to is I was working, for example, with a refugee community that's from Myanmar, burma, and Myanmar Burma has not only one people group but many, many different people groups. Yeah, that's actually been part of the strategy of the dominant, oppressing government in that side of things, where they would just divide people and then conquer. And so, part of then, what?

Marbuen Diaz: 7:20

When they come to Australia, like they're very strong in their ethnocentrism but now they're realizing that they're not the center and so they're just learning how to, okay, how do we keep and maintain aspects of our culture while understanding that the future of our community, even our kids right now, are all actually going to transition into a different kind of home and community? And so part of the work that I've been able to do is to establish some educational components within their leadership systems, so that you know it's not all dependent on Marbo and Diaz. It's actually trying to empower the local leaders in those local communities and then they become their own leaders and they will lead their own communities. And then, at the same time, I'm trying to guide, running different workshops or different training for our, our dominant culture systems so that it becomes more culturally safe of creating pathways for those communities that's wonderful.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 8:24

Now australia is a big place and you can say in Australia, but I'm sure you're not. Are you working across the country or are you in a specific place in Australia?

Marbuen Diaz: 8:34

Well, yes, I do work across the country, but the specific place that I work in is a state called New South Wales, act, and the city that I'm located in is actually a city called Sydney, which is the most diverse, culturally diverse city in the whole country it's probably the one where everyone visits as well well, most people yeah, as you all know, the Opera House, harbour Bridge. Yes, yes, you're right.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 9:00

Yeah that's fantastic. I love that you even started dropping some names, so I'm going to have to press you now, for if it's my first time coming to Australia and I choose to come to Sydney, as most people would. So you've mentioned the Opera House. You know Sydney Opera House, probably the most famous landmark. What are the places most people make sure that they get on their bucket list to see, and what do you think they should be thinking about doing?

Marbuen Diaz: 9:29

Yeah, it depends on the time of the year, but I would say that they definitely need to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. The good thing is they're right next to each other in their main city or the business district. It's actually right there, city or the business district. It's, it's actually right there. Yeah, um, you want to then travel and see, um, some of the landmarks. It's called the blue mountains. It should go all the way out west it's probably two hours out west and then you that it's a more aic, environmental kind of landscape, and make sure that you get to visit the animals as well, so you can see a kangaroo or a koala and if you're more bold, then see some. We have the most dangerous snakes and spiders, the most poisonous snakes and spiders as well.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 10:25

I see, and they deserve to be visited too, is what you're saying. I think I'll skip that one.

Marbuen Diaz: 10:31

I mean they can be visited, but a lot of the times they're just out in the wild, so they might just visit you.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 10:37

Oh, goodness, goodness, okay, in that case, then tell us where to avoid if we were bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where do you think? What are the tips, though, for keeping safe? Because even though we're laughing, we know a lot?

Marbuen Diaz: 10:50

of people who've gotten. Yeah, of course. Yep, yeah, I mean to keep safe the the brown snake is probably the most common one here, um, but I mean, if we just keep in mind the brown snake is probably the most common one here, okay, but I mean, we just keep in mind that the brown snakes, or the snakes, are actually more afraid of you than you are of it and they actually want to avoid you, okay, so if you're just making sure you have, if you're going for a walk, that's where you'd usually find them in nature a walk, because that's where you'd usually find them in in nature. So if you're going to a bike or a walk, then you just have enclosed, you know, shoes, um, and just be mindful where you're walking, um, most of the time, but they most of the time try to avoid you unless you're trying to threaten it, okay, yes, and the tarantulas do?

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 11:33

they try to avoid you as well oh, I mean there's.

Marbuen Diaz: 11:36

I actually don't know if there we have any tarantulas and they're not poisonous. The the commonly poisonous one here that we have in many places, including my backyard, is the um, the redback spider goodness, why are you living with redback spiders and how do you avoid them or get? They just pop up in different places, so we just spray it and then, yeah, hopefully it doesn't get us.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 12:01

Okay, I like your optimism. Goodness, okay, wonderful. And what about the food? What can people expect?

Marbuen Diaz: 12:08

Yeah, there's definitely a strong Asian influence here, especially here in Sydney. Okay, so Sydney being on, or Shariab being on the southern part of Asia, there's a lot that's close to the Asian, southeast Asian countries or South Asian countries, and so a lot of the food influence is from there, and so you will get all the different types of Asian food here. With Sydney being quite diverse, you will find all the different types of food depending on which suburb you're going to. Probably similar to a lot of main cities around the world, but we certainly have a lot of that diversity here. If you want to try it as well, there are a lot of our First Nations folk here have a lot of great, great food and native plants and elements, so there are some restaurants that do that as well.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 13:02

Oh, that's interesting and I'm glad that you brought that up. For those who may not understand or who may be hearing the term First Nations, can you just explain what that means and why that's important?

Marbuen Diaz: 13:15

Yeah, that's really important for us. It's really important for me. That's part of my side of doing community development. Is social justice? Yes, and so that's really important to me, because the First Nations peoples have been here for hundreds of thousands of years and they've. They're one of the um. They are the longest culture and people groups that have maintained their culture, and so they they span across all of Australia. They never ceded their land, and so that's part of our colonial history story. Australia is still being part of the Commonwealth as well, and so our First Nations have never ceded their land, and so they continue to be resilient, but unfortunately, in colonial history, there has been some horrific stories of what's been done to their people, so that continues to be a big social justice issue today.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 14:08

What do you mean by they've never ceded their land? Because for many people they're wondering oh, is it that they never planted anything?

Marbuen Diaz: 14:18

That's really an important question, and the thing is there's a long answer to do it justice. But the main part that not ceding their land is because when the colonial people came here, they said that there were no people here. The term was terra nullius no man's land. So that was the justification to take the land now called Australia, because it was no man's land. It was terra nullius. They considered the First Nations people, the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander as part of the flora and fauna, and so that is why that is a major injustice, and so it's important, at least for me and for people who believe in justice, that we always say that they never ceded their land. They never gave it up. It is their land and we continue to acknowledge that.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 15:10

Yes. So, beyond acknowledging it, what else are you doing and what else could other people do just to help with that? Because, as you say, it is an injustice. But after so long, what can be done about it?

Marbuen Diaz: 15:25

yeah, the beautiful thing is that we have a lot of first nation leaders leading the way already and they're doing great work um that we've had some really especially in the last year some really unfortunate votes that went against our First Nation peoples having a bigger voice into governance Well, not just governance, but a say in the governance of their own people.

Marbuen Diaz: 15:49

But they continue to lead with resilience, with grace and compassion, and they continue to do that. And so at this current moment, the thing that I would say that I'm doing, but I would encourage other people to do, is to educate themselves, because a lot of the times they put it on on the first nations you need to educate us about these things. No, we can actually educate ourselves, and when we're ready to join them and how they're doing the reconciling, restoring work, then let's join them, but let's not burden them in terms of getting them to educate us. So I would really strongly recommend people educate themselves around what's happened to this country, the history behind it, the injustice that's currently being done to them, and maybe ways that we can step in, because it can get quite paralyzing sometimes looking at the action points, but if you can pick one, then go with that one.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 16:40

Yeah and support it. I love it. There's never been a better time in history to find out information. So honestly, educating oneself is the least we can all do. So thank you so much for highlighting it. I love that. I mean I love just. You know how passionate you are about the work that you do and, yes, I understand that you moved from the Philippines when you were 10. But would you say that being Filipino has shaped you in any way or influenced some of what you do, and, if so, how?

Marbuen Diaz: 17:10

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, again, it's been part of my cultural pilgrimage. I call it yes, um, yeah, there was a point in time where I didn't like being filipino here in australia because I just wanted to fit in with everybody. I wanted to be aussie, as they call it, be I, and I wanted to be like them, to eat like them, to just sound like them. But ultimately in the end there's there's a point where you look at yourself and you're like I'm not like that, and so part of my cultural pilgrimage is integrating that. So integrating the language, the two languages I already know, yeah, integrating becoming a global citizen that I actually have influence or I can have some, and that's part of the work that I've done in the philippines partnership, community development work that I've done in the Philippines. But also I think I've been able to understand and know that in the work that I do now, because I know what the migrant journey is like.

Marbuen Diaz: 18:04

One of the things that I was introduced to coming to Australia was at 10 years old was I never knew what racism was until I was introduced to racism. I didn't know how different I was until people told me you are different, and you are different because of the color of your skin, the ambiguity of I don't know what you are Some people think I'm Mexican, some people think I'm Nepalese, some people think I'm Chinese. You know, it's just like they're just so. The racial slurs come with all of that. But at the same time I've got to see people who were strongly hospitable um the capacity of humanity to be kind yes and so I.

Marbuen Diaz: 18:43

I got to see both sides of that, and I guess that's what gives me passion to fight against injustice, yes, but also give me hope that, humanity, we can be kind to each other yeah, yeah, I love that.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 18:56

I mean, people have different experiences of Australia, for sure, and you hear that, but I love that you've actually given it a more balanced view. So just to finish, I mean it's so fascinating that I could keep talking to you about this. Really, I know how passionate you are. But just to finish, two things before I ask you about top tips for more top tips for what not to bring when coming to australia.

Marbuen Diaz: 19:20

is there anything that you'd like to talk about or, um, mention that we haven't covered at all anything that's on your heart yeah, yeah, I mean, I think there's um, it's in two spaces, it's the same thing thing, but it has two different angles on it, even though we address the idea of refugees. I guess there are refugees because there's something that pushed them out of their country, there is conflict and therefore there is this huge trauma that refugee communities go through, and I think that is the case with immigrants generally. But then you can just imagine or try to imagine the refugee journey, and so we have a lot of these different types of refugee communities and the huge trauma that comes from that context and experience, but also the intergenerational trauma that then gets on. And so then I just wanted to highlight, yes, that, but also the second aspect of that, which is the emerging generation from those communities. Yes.

Marbuen Diaz: 20:19

And so what does it look like? Some of the things that I'm trying to do which I don't have solutions on, but trying to come around people who love and care about this area is to imagine what it would look like for the emerging generation within that community, for the emerging generation within that community again to be their own leaders in that space, to have a future ideation space for their own communities of what flourishing can look like with this unique intergenerational trauma that they are carrying.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 20:49

Yeah, Thank you for highlighting that. That's so important. On the one hand, I know how potentially devastating it can be to carry trauma. You know through generations and we see that around the world. I think most people don't even realize that science has proven that you can inherit those genes with the trauma in your DNA. I mean, it's such powerful stuff. And so to people who say, yeah, but why can't they just go to therapy and get over it, what would you say to them?

Marbuen Diaz: 21:24

Yeah, I'd say that to those people that everyone addresses trauma in their own way and in their own journey, in their own time and place, just like they would not want people to rush them in their healing or rush them in their mental health well-being, we should not rush people in the complexity of their intergenerational trauma. So, to grow some self-reflection on how do I want people to treat me? That's how we should treat other people as well.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 21:58

I love that and it's just, it's wonderful, you know, treating other people the way we would like to be treated. It's such a good note to end this on. And it's all about diversity, isn't it? Being just giving each other grace, Because everyone's different, everyone's journey is different and, of course, everyone's healing. Everyone's journey is different and, of course, everyone's healing path would be different as well. Thank you, that's really great that you highlighted that to us. Okay, and just to finish, australia is known as a really tough border, the border crossing. Oh my goodness, we see the shows, we hear about it.

Marbuen Diaz: 22:35

You just remind us, if we're coming, the do's and the don'ts, because I appreciate that again, even as an australian who've traveled out of the country and back in, we're all still scared of our own borders because australia is an island and that island that doesn't have our borders are the ocean. So we order on another country that can maybe come in with. So we're very, very protective and I think there are times where rightly so, because it has affected the flora and fauna here. Uh, when you introduce uh something else to the, to the, to the what the ecosystem, then it it's, uh, it's significant, and so the main thing that people need the top tip is if you can eat it a lot, don't bring it.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 23:23

Oh gosh, all right, you heard it. Guys, if you can eat it, if it's a lie, don't bring it. Okay, all right. So only dead things that are non-edible in fact should be in your suitcase. Okay, good one. Okay, good one, okay, it's easy to remember and then you will not be on TV. Yes, okay, oh, Mabouen, thank you so much. It's been a joy just to catch up with you again, to have this conversation, to learn from you, to hear your heart and your justice. You know your passion for justice. Really, just before we finish, how can people find you, connect with you if they wanted to?

Marbuen Diaz: 24:06

Yeah. So if you look at the intercultural or the justice space in New South Wales ACT for Baptist Association then I'm the main person that you'll find. I have social media handles, but I'm not as big on social media.

AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE: 24:24

Yeah, I understand that. That's great. That's fine. People will have your name anyway so they can look you up and support you, and I very much hope they do. It's been a joy just to chat to you today, thank you, and I very much hope they do. It's been a joy just to chat to you today, thank you. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of World Changes Podcast. I hope you're feeling as inspired as I am by today's conversation. Remember the power to create changes within each of us. If you were inspired by today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, share it with a friend and leave us a review. It really helps to spread the word and inspire even more world changers. And be sure to follow us on social media at World Changers PC for updates, behind the scenes content and more inspiring stories. Until next time, keep exploring, keep making a difference and remember you can be a world changer.

Humanise Live: 25:23

The World Changers podcast is produced by Humanized Live and presented by Amiki Carroll. Visit theavocadofoundationorg to find out more about how the Avocado Foundation is tackling global inequality through education, stewardship and financial literacy.