Carina Kamara, Fitness coach for Big 5 Fitness

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Resident of Maidstone

My family arrived in Adelaide as refugees from Sierra Leone in 1990. Due to the civil war, in the six or seven years leading to us arriving in Australia, we were constantly displaced, travelling back and forth between Guinea and Sierra Leone. The group consisted of myself, Mum and two brothers. I am the middle child and was 10 years old then.

We never had a permanent home, and we arrived in Australia through the UN. We had put in an application to resettle, and UN picked out 10 families. We were one of the lucky 10. This group was headed to Australia. Until then, I have only heard of Australia through books. I remember reading about eucalyptus trees and koalas when I was in Grade Three. That was pretty much it.

We didn’t have much choice as to where we could go. From the time it took us to be interviewed, having our medical and hopping on our plane, it took only three weeks for us to leave Guinea.

My parents had studied in Germany previously, and both had medical degrees. From the age of five, I lived in Berlin but had to move back to Sierra Leone when my younger brother was born as Mum wanted to be near family.

It was a 23-hour flight to Australia, and it was the most significant flight of my life. The UN spread the 10 families out. Some in Melbourne, some Sydney and some Adelaide. We settled down in Adelaide, and I went through High School and Senior College.

Growing up in Sierra Leone, we were told there were only three career choices – Politician, Lawyer or Businessman. It’s the key to success so education is a big deal. When I arrived in Adelaide, even though I had lost most of my high school education I knew I had to get into uni.

Mum was a Microbiologist, so naturally, I grew up wanting to be a Microbiologist. Mum passed away in 2008, but she has taught me to be strong and self-sufficient. As parents, that’s what we want. If we want children to do stuff, we teach them once and make sure they can do it. We ensure they can do it everyday and get good at it. I graduated at 17 and applied for a Diploma in Applied Science in Flinders Uni, before applying for a Bachelor of Science.

In my last year of uni, I decided to apply for a casual job in a lab as I couldn’t see myself being a doctor, working those hours. I decided to go physically in person and handed in my resume, even though many weren’t advertising. Eventually, I found a job in a lab around the corner from my old house. The lady who hired me is still a friend and mentor of mine. I stayed there for seven years.

After the birth of my daughter Summer, I had put on 25kg. However, I realised I had some down time between working and studying full time and decided to exercise. I remember my partner saying ‘There’s a gym down the road, you could walk there, do your classes and get your fitness.’

There was a trainer who just had a baby herself, and she looked amazing. I decided she would be my goal. She was doing body pump and I mixed gym and body pump. Before long, I was including circuits, taking Summer down in my stroller, dropping her in crèche, do my workout, pick up her and be a Mum again. I would do this five days a week.

Over time, I realised I enjoyed gym a lot more and felt more confident on the gym floor. I have always wanted a bigger upper body, and read somewhere about CrossFit. I did a few competitions and started working there while being a medical scientist. One of the staff once told me “Why don’t you come work here?” I was becoming the face of the business, and they needed a front desk person. I was coming up to seven years as a scientist, and due to a company restructure, knew I couldn’t go much further in the business.

I resigned from my role not long after and studied full time for 18 weeks to become a personal trainer. It was hard then, as it was on one family income. I remember crunching figures, and I knew I needed just enough finances to last me a year.

By that point, I have been in Adelaide for almost 15 years. I was gaining momentum, quit my job and have changed my environment. I realised if I wanted to make Personal Training a business and have people come to me, I would start one and stay there forever.

In 2016, Summer had moved around a lot by the time she was 10. Tired of moving, she came to an agreement with me. If I moved one last time, she would not move again until she finishes high school.

My whole network of friends has always been in Melbourne. Looking back, I only remained in SA as Summer and my ex-partner are there. I decided to move to Melbourne.

Big 5 Fitness – Yarraville was advertising for a group fitness instructor then, and I got the job. It has brought me out of my shell as I am actually very introverted. I have found my rhythm in Big 5, and I am known as the loud trainer. You either like me or you don’t. I was always worried about people not liking me, but if you leave Big 5 with your goals achieved, I am irrelevant.

Early last year, I was chatting with the principal and a teacher in Summer’s school. I had been thinking about what my life would be like for the next 15 years, and remember saying to them I worry about the new environment girls grow up in. A lot of girls are social-focused as opposed to fitness-focused. Slowly, obesity creeps in. 70% of girls in netball are considered overweight. They’ve had no sports offered in school, so parents had to volunteer in netball classes. I was one of the parents.

The teacher had turned to me and said there is no consistent programs for girls to do. I realised girls don’t have anything to do for fitness. Body image is formed from young; there is no proper outlet for how people look at them. Teens are so concerned about how people view them but it’s really imaginary. If they’ve forgotten to do their hair, they assume the whole world is looking at them. It’s all so external-focused.

Fitness, on the other hand, is internal-focused. I have been working on a fitness mentoring program with public schools across the Western suburbs. If it really takes off, I will focus on small classes which would be available to everybody, subject to government subsidy.

If the program works, it will run itself. It’s not about money as I have told myself the goal is to engage the girls sufficiently so they will take the same attitude into high school. Hopefully, these kids will come back in ten years and impart the same skills to new five and six-year-old kids.

Outside of work, I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts. One of my majors in uni was Psychology. A favourite one of mine is True Crime Brewery. The hosts visit pubs, have alcohol flowing and use humour to talk about crime. Sometimes it almost feels like I’m eavesdropping on the conversation. They could be talking about something grotesque, but it’s amazing content.

Everyone’s life takes them on a different journey. 2018 will be a wonderful year for me.

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