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Women's Health West
Chahida
CHAHIDA
"I love new challenges and always look forward to my next challenge."
Chahida is a woman who has made a habit of defying convention. She is about to complete her Bachelor of Business in Computer Systems Management at Victoria University. Leaving high school mid-way through year eleven, heading overseas at sixteen, falling in love and marrying, starting a family at eighteen, she has carved out a unique path for herself. Her journey is inspiring and unconventional and entirely hers.
Chahida wouldn't change a thing! She loved being at home with her two boys, but when they started school she thought, "Okay, I am not just gonna sit here and do absolutely nothing, so I enrolled in a Certificate (I) to learn how to use a computer, and I am still there! I have got one more semester and then I finish my degree." Although she believes being a stay-at-home mum is beautiful and she supports a woman's choice, knowing the kids were going to need a computer really motivated her to be at least one step ahead of them in that department. Her subsequent education has created many opportunities.
She now teaches Information Technology at VU, a position she is passionate about. While she plans to work in the IT industry, she hopes to continue teaching. She enjoys mentoring others, whether they are family members, or part of the wide variety of people she encounters through her teaching and volunteer work with the Muslim Women's Council of Victoria and the Migrant Resource Centre North West. "There was always an interest, this thing, that I felt I needed to do something but I didn't know what. I wanted to be part of something but I didn't know what I wanted to be part of. "
It hasn't always been so clear-cut and it is never easy. "My strong will power and determination keep me going. I love new challenges and always look forward to my next challenge. Working under pressure and getting through tough times will only make me stronger and more capable of taking on bigger challenges. 
I always look for the light at the end of the tunnel even though it may be hard to see at times." Setting short and long term goals, and working out how to achieve them is also important to Chahida's success.
She also acknowledges that her success is contributing to the much-needed overhaul of how Muslim women are perceived. Although she still encounters people who assume she can't speak English because she is Muslim, she reflects, "…being a Muslim woman, going out and achieving all this; going back to uni, at the same time working (teaching), and then I had the family…soccer training weeknights, games on Sunday, and I juggled it all and I did it successfully."