When Dr. Naba Alfayadh fled Iraq in 2003, she did not know that two decades later she would be standing on a stage in Brisbane, accepting the Telstra Best of Business National Award for Business of the Year. Yet here she was, representing Rahma Health, an Australia-based charity redefining the way families access health and parenting support across the globe.
“There is so much inequity in childhood around the world, and that sets up inequity for our entire lives,” Dr. Alfayadh told Women Love Tech. “Our first five years affect our physical health, mental health, and set our academic and earning potential for the rest of our lives. There is so much inequity in the support and information that parents have access to, which causes disparities that last lifetimes.”
Rahma Health was born from that conviction.
Focused on Arabic-speaking families affected by war, displacement, and intergenerational trauma, the charity creates culturally and psychologically safe resources to bridge gaps in healthcare access.
“I established Rahma Health to start healing our world and create a more equal, loving world that respects human dignity, starting with the essential first five years,” she explains.
“Every child, regardless of the language their parents speak or the country they live in, deserves access to the information that will give them the best start to life. That’s the world we’re building, one family at a time.”
At the heart of Rahma Health is a surprisingly radical idea: love. “We spent eight months researching what love is — and this is at the heart of everything we do. Love is the most energising, incredible, joyous experience. It is so powerful that many philosophers and religions describe it as the purpose of life and the peak of the experience of being alive. One of the most important gifts we will give our children is love.”
Dr. Alfayadh’s work is intensely personal.
“For many refugee families, becoming parents marks the first time they’re experiencing unconditional love — switching out of survival mode and fight-or-flight responses for the first time in their lives,” she says.
“I want Rahma especially to support parents to break cycles of lovelessness and cruelty and to start loving their children in a healthy, authentic, wholehearted way. When we change how we love our children, we change the future of humanity itself.”
Mohannad Dahalan from Rahma Health
Her own childhood was marked by loss and fear.
“We left Iraq six months after the American invasion began. Our school got bombed, and my mother realised how close the danger was. I remember the monstrously large grey aeroplanes, the tanks, the bleeding people, the overwhelming fear. All of us sat in complete, eerie silence, waiting to die. It took me two decades to start feeling like the world could be safe again.”
Arriving in Australia did not immediately erase those scars.
“Just four months after we arrived, my father passed away. My mother suddenly became a single parent to three daughters in a completely new country where she didn’t speak the language and had no support network. She was terrified, and we were plunged into profound poverty,” Dr. Alfayadh recalls.
Even small acts of social life, like buying birthday presents for friends, became impossible. “For two years of high school, I decided not to have friends because birthday gifts were too expensive for my mum. It really hurt to ask her for money, so it felt easier to just not have friends at all.”
Education became her lifeline. Scholarships opened doors to mentorship and opportunities she could never have imagined. “I felt so incredibly lucky to grow up in Australia. I remembered life in Iraq very clearly and was so aware of the privilege, safety, and power that were now open to me. I want to use every privilege I have to make life better for other people.”
Rahma Health grew out of that sense of responsibility. “I’ve always imagined a better world. Even as a child, it didn’t make sense to me that people treated each other with such cruelty, or that such profound inequality existed. The turning point came when I was 15. I realised all the adults were just as confused and scared as I was. No one was coming to save us. If we wanted the world to change, it was up to us ‘normal’ people to do something about it.”
From that understanding, she launched Happy Brain Education in 2016 to support young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds. Rahma Health, she says, grew from the same principle: “Too many systems weren’t designed with people like me or the families I work with in mind. I wanted to create something that truly serves the people who need it most, honours their experiences, and helps them build the lives they deserve.”
The recognition from Telstra’s Best of Business Awards marks a new chapter. “In just the three days surrounding the Awards, we formed so many new partnerships, learned new skills, and gained incredible mentors,” she says. Partnerships with AI translation platform Knowby will allow Rahma to deliver parenting training in 140 languages, reaching families previously inaccessible.
Mentorship from leaders like Dr. Samantha Pillay and Dr. Zoe Condliffe is already shaping Rahma’s next steps.
Rahma Health’s core team is small but deeply committed. “This is not work for our team — it is a life purpose, a life calling, a life mission,” she says. “Our volunteers and partner organisations make an enormous global impact. We take care of our own health, our families, and our colleagues first, because we cannot pour from an empty cup. We want to start a worldwide revolution in parenting, and we want Rahma to be a household name globally.”
For Dr. Alfayadh, the work is never finished. “We are only at the start of our journey. Every child deserves love, dignity, and opportunity. If we can give that, we can change the world.”
Celebrating Purpose-Driven Success: Rahma Health Wins Big at Telstra Awards
When passion meets purpose, incredible things happen—and Rahma Health is living proof. At the 2025 Telstra Best of Business Awards National Gala in Brisbane, this inspiring organisation was crowned Business of the Year, a title that shines a spotlight on businesses making a real difference in people’s lives.
Founded by Dr Naba Alfayadh, Rahma Health is an Australia-based charity creating culturally and psychologically safe health and parenting resources for multicultural communities worldwide. Its mission focuses on Arabic-speaking families affected by war, displacement, racism, poverty, and intergenerational trauma, bridging critical gaps in healthcare access and support.
Telstra Business Group Executive Amanda Hutton praised Rahma Health’s transformative impact on women, families, and communities. She highlighted Dr Alfayadh’s inspiring leadership and ability to leverage technology and global partnerships to build a scalable platform that ensures vulnerable groups receive essential health guidance and resources.