Saru Rana arrived as an international student in Australia in 2009. A decade later, in March 2019, she became a recipient of Governor's Multicultural Award in South Australia.
His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AC, Governor of South Australia presented the 2018 Multicultural Award in Senior Volunteer Award category to Saru Rana at an award ceremony at Government House on March 26th 2019.
Saru Rana Source: Supplied
Ms Rana was recognised for her community work through her organisation SHAMSHIR.
"Through resilience, positivity and dedication, Saru Rana has used her experience as a survivor of family violence to raise awareness about issues such as inequality, violence and abuse. Her organisation SHAMSHIR seeks to break the social stigma around difficult topics through sensitive discussion," the recognition reads.
Ms Saru has been at the receiving end of an abusive relationship but she prefers to be called a survivor-fighter than a domestic violence victim.
"My passion for social and community work led me to launch human rights campaign called SHAMSHIR,” she tells SBS Hindi.
Shamshir is a platform to bring people from diverse communities on a common ground to create a peaceful and harmonious society, Ms Rana told SBS Hindi
Saru Rana has been recognised for her community work through her social campaign, 'Shamshir.' Source: Supplied
Born to a Muslim mother, a Sikh father and married to an Australian, Saru feels strongly about building a cohesive, multicultural society.
“I wanted to promote a peaceful relationship between migrants from India and Pakistan in South Australia which lead me to create an organisation called MILAAP in August 2018," she says.
"Now more than 300 families from Pakistani and Indian community in Adelaide come together frequently to share their heartfelt stories and experiences.”
To educate the next generation of migrants about social issues like child sexual abuse and domestic violence has been an important part of her social activism.
Educating next generation of migrants about social issues like child sexual abuse and domestic violence has been an important part of her activism. Source: Supplied
"Teach them young, teach them right," she says.
Saru is also passionate about sports and is working with peak sports bodies in developing sporting hubs for multicultural youth in South Australia.
"I have recently trained to play Australian rules football," she shares.
“I want to see migrant girls on the sports grounds and that’s why I took up footy to inspire, advocate for gender equality and equal opportunities for all in sports.” 
Saru Rana has used her experience as a survivor of family violence to raise awareness about issues such as inequality, violence and abuse.
Saru Rana has since become a voice for survivors of dowry abuse. Source: SBS News
"I want to tell all the girls out there that through resilience, positivity and dedication we can achieve whatever we want to.”
