Sydney mum Rowah is heading around the world for The Amazing Race Australia to prove to anyone watching that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. This 42-year-old mum-of-three wants to show the world just how strong Muslim women can be.
“People have the wrong idea about Muslim people, especially women,” Rowah tells TV WEEK. “I need to show them that we’re a loving, peaceful, but strong people.”
The single mum from Sydney took on the race with her daughter, Amani, 18. But it was really for her twin boys Ahmad and Mohamad, 15, back home that she was teaching a lesson to.
“When they saw I was going on the show they said, ‘Mum, you should go with me,'” Rowah says. “But I told them, ‘You should never put boundaries on a woman – we can do everything.'”
Rowah and Amani wanted to set an example.
(Image: Network Ten)
Before stepping onto the show, Rowah had faced her own challenges, becoming a single mum six years ago.
“It was exhausting and emotionally draining,” she says of her divorce. “I needed to rebuild, but more to think about what I wanted as a person on my own. I needed to love myself again.”
As for her time on the race, she says it wasn’t all rainbows with Amani.
“We did fight and bicker,” she says with a laugh. “I’m the feisty one and she’s much calmer than me.”
READ NEXT: Meet the teams competing on The Amazing Race Australia
The ladies are ready for the race!
(Image: Network Ten)The Amazing Race Australia airs Monday and Tuesday, 7.30pm, on 10.
