The community worker is the project co-ordinator of The Container for Peace Project, an initiative which has caught the imagination of both the Somali and wider communities.

Generous donations have been flooding in to help Mr Ahmed and other volunteers fill a 40-foot shipping container with much needed supplies for refugee and orphaned children in Somalia.

The idea was born late last year when Mr Ahmed returned to his homeland for the first time since he fled as a 14-year-old boy 12 years ago.

"My mother was sick so I had to go back and see her," the Flemington resident said.

"I saw the living conditions back home. They are harsh conditions and I decided I had to take action and do something positive."

Since civil war broke out in Somalia in 1991, many schools have operated without any government support.

Children spend school hours in makeshift stick huts with little protection from rain and heat. Not only will the shipping container deliver much-needed supplies to young Somalis, but the brightly-painted container will provide shelter from the elements.

Young people and Somali volunteers have been painting the container with designs that reflect the joyous symbols of their homeland, such as smiling Ringo the Red-Nose Rhino.

Mr Ahmed sees the project as something that not only benefits children in Somalia, but is bringing together the community in Australia.

"We are creating a long-lasting connection between the Somali community back home and the young ones who grew up here.

"Educating people in Somalia will help to create peace at home, young people will be less likely to take the wrong path."

While an idea is one thing, the logistics can be quite another.

Mr Ahmed is full of praise for Pauline Crosbie from not-for-profit Koala Spirit.

Mr Ahmed will leave Melbourne at the end of the month to accompany the container and oversee the second phase of the project, building a basic school.

To donate items or money to the project, phone Ahmed Ahmed on 0421248448 or visit www.bumblebee.org.au