AFTER spending six years in hiding, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo has emerged as one of Hobsons Bay's future leaders.

Altona North resident Rick Kiembe Mwamba, 18, was among 14 refugees who completed the Emerging Leaders program for new and emerging communities, which has been funded by Hobsons Bay Council since 2006.

Other participants were four females and nine males from Burma's persecuted Karen minority, Ethiopia, Lebanon and Uganda.

Rick, a Bayside Secondary College student, arrived in Australia on April 11, 2007.

Many years earlier, his family fled the DRC, where his father was a politician and went into hiding in the neighbouring Republic of the Congo.

"The Congo where I was born is the DRC," Rick said.

"There, our life was very good. My dad was a member of the parliament so we had a good life over there and then, because of political persecution, they had to leave the country and move to the R. Congo. There, the life wasn't that good.

"We didn't live in good conditions. People couldn't know we were there, especially my dad."

After mastering English, Rick now speaks 10 languages and one day hopes to be a doctor.

"Next year I will be in year 12 and once I finish that I would like to go to university to study medicine.

"The main reason is, I like helping people.

"I can be a role model. I can definitely do that." The youth leadership program culminated in a camp in the Yarra Ranges with members of Victoria Police, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, North West Migrant Resource Centre and Western Bulldogs Football Club.

The program teaches newly arrived refugees about team building, communication, leadership roles and responsibilities, career pathways, public speaking and the role of Consumer Affairs, emergency services, government departments and the legal system.

It especially aims to give young refugees a positive experience of people in uniform, particularly for those who lost trust of police and government in their homeland.

Next year's program will be widened to include members of more multicultural communities.