Growing up, Cecile Saidi didn’t know a thing about Australian Football.

Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1996, at only three months old Cecile and her family fled the country after a war broke out.

After living in a refugee camp for eight years, the family took refuge in Australia.

Now, she is working at the Adelaide Football Club, hoping to encourage others from diverse backgrounds to get involved in the game.

In order to expand its work with multicultural communities, the Club has appointed Cecile as Multicultural Liaison Officer.

The Club already has a number of initiatives in place to involve people from diverse backgrounds, with Cecile’s primary focus to extend these.

As well as furthering the Crows’ existing multicultural schools program, which aims to introduce more kids to Australian Rules, Cecile will work to increase the Club’s involvement with multicultural events, help to highlight the contributions different groups make to the sport and also foster a supportive environment for those looking to learn more about the Club and AFL.

Through her role, Cecile is also hoping to help share the stories of people in the multicultural communities.

The 21-year-old has an incredible story of her own to tell.

After the war broke out and her family fled, they hid and lived in the woods for three months, before escaping to a refugee camp named Lugufu in Tanzania, where they lived for eight years.

In 2005, they received news that the Australian Government had offered them protection, and Cecile and her family arrived in Adelaide unable to speak any English.

Dedication to school meant in time the family learnt to communicate in the language and 13 years later, Cecile has now graduated from the University of South Australia with a Bachelor of Communication and Media.

Cecile said she was excited about what her new role would bring.

“I am looking forward to working with the multicultural communities of South Australia,” Cecile said.

“I’m also excited to help the Adelaide Football Club spread the love for football to the multicultural communities, as footy is at the very core of the Australian culture.”

As part of her role, Cecile will be completing a traineeship with AFL SportsReady and a completing Certificate IV in Business.

This role is part of the AFL’s Bachar Houli Employment Program, with the Adelaide Football Club being one of nine AFL clubs selected to participate in the program.

Adelaide’s multicultural schools program, launched in May 2016, engages kids both through physical skills sessions and in the classroom, where they find out more about the game and are asked to be creative in developing their own football teams, including a name, logo, colours, guernsey design and more.