The Newington Gunners Soccer Club’s defending champions have kicked off the 2015 season in the same fashion they finished 2014 — with a win. The Gunners’ men’s team of mostly asylum seekers and refugees that won the Granville and Districts Football Soccer Association AAM6 division title in 2014, has stepped up a division this season but continued winning nonetheless.
Welcome to the SSI Food Blog. Whether they are SSI employees, volunteers, refugees or people seeking asylum, the people featured here all share a love of food. One of the many benefits of multiculturalism is delicious food, so let’s enjoy! Suresh Babu Tagarapu As a once-in-a-decade storm battered Sydney in late April, up to 120 people seeking asylum in Australia braved the conditions to get to SSI’s Community Kitchen in Auburn. Having just worked a night-shift, Suresh and his team were on hand at the Community Kitchen volunteering their time to prepare a delicious lunch for everyone.
Welcome to the SSI Food Blog. Whether they are SSI employees, volunteers, refugees or people seeking asylum, the people featured here all share a love of food. One of the many benefits of multiculturalism is delicious food, so let's enjoy! Sajeeda Bahadurmia Sajeeda regularly shares her culinary talents by cooking for up to 150 people at SSI's fortnightly Community Kitchens for people seeking asylum in Sydney. She came to Australia in 2013, with her husband and three children to seek asylum from Myanmar.
People born in Australia may take it for granted that they can travel to Canberra and visit Parliament House. But Jawad, who was born in Afghanistan and lived in Pakistan before seeking asylum in Australia, was astonished when he learnt anyone could see the rooms where parliamentarians sit.
Many of the 32 refugees who visited Luna Park with SSI staff and volunteers in April had never been to a theme park in their life. But thanks to Mission of Hope, which donated tickets to SSI for the refugees it supports, these families had more fun than they’d had in a long time.
John Mashar arrived in Australia as a refugee from Sudan at age nine. Now at age 21, John told SSI how he was using his experience as a young refugee settling in a new country to help other young people through the Youth Collective. “I was born in South Sudan. Sudan is split into north and south. The north has closer relations to the Arab world, like much of North Africa. They’re mostly Muslims and they have an Arab culture. The south, where I was from, has closer relations to sub-Saharan Africa, so they’re mostly Christians, they’re animists, and they have very strong African traditions.
Art workshops organised by the SSI Arts & Culture program have helped families entertain and educate their children during the April school holidays. The first workshop was held at the Peacock Gallery in Auburn where children aged between six and 15 were encouraged to create a piece of art on the theme of 'friendship'. Children created 3D hand drawings and made poppy flowers to contribute to a community wreath.
Refugees feel like "members of the world" in Australia The world is a proverbial oyster for Arsalan, 23, and his sister Asina, 18. But it wasn’t always so. Growing up in Iran as members of a minority religion, Baha’i, meant they, and their parents, were used to being told ‘no, you can’t’. “There is nothing in law saying that you can’t be Baha’i, but in Iran, if you are Baha’i, people can do anything against you,” Arsalan said.
To kick start National Youth Week, SSI’s Youth Committee held a Youth Gala social day out for refugees and asylum seekers aged 15 to 25. Young people who had come to Australia from Iraq, Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq came together at Auburn Centre for Community to meet and socialise, around the much-loved Australian tradition of a barbecue.
Mark June 20, 2015, in your diaries as we celebrate hope, unity and new beginnings on World Refugee Day! Join SSI for a one-day celebration showcasing the cultural expressions and heritage of newly arrived artists and emerging communities, including talented SSI clients.
Celebrating cultural connections SSI was proud to sponsor the Children’s Festival, held in Circular Quay on March 15. The theme for 2015 was “Playing Together and Living in Harmony”, and Fleet Park in Circular Quay was brought to life with a mix of colourful clothes, cultural performances and the big smiles of many children and families.
A month busy with events has reinforced for me the importance of these opportunities that bring diverse people together to share knowledge and experience. Recent events SSI has been involved in included Harmony Day, SSI’s Speakers’ Series discussion on youth and radical ideologies, the Third Sector Expo and the Cultural Diversity and Law Conference.
Settlement Services International (SSI) is pleased to announce that the organisation has been successful in tendering for the new $5 billion employment services model, known as jobactive that will replace Job Services Australia from July 1.
An SSI case manager joined a diverse panel at the “Volunteering for All - Trends and Tips” forum last month to discuss and explore the positive effects of volunteering. The forum was hosted by NSW peak body The Centre for Volunteering at Customs House, on March 25. SSI case manager Marcela Hart, who was nominated to sit on the panel by colleagues, said the event had a particular focus on building the capacity of the volunteer sector to recognise, respect, manage and support people from diverse backgrounds.
SSI asylum seeker client Behnan credits bodybuilding with giving him something practical to focus on while his claim for refugee status is assessed. Behnan, originally from Iran, has been bodybuilding for 15 years. “I started when I was about 13 years old,” he said via an interpreter. “My brothers were coaches, and because of my height and physical features, they decided bodybuilding was the sport for me.”
SSI staff and asylum seeker clients took part in the OzHarvest CEO CookOff, in March. The CookOff is an annual event that brings together celebrity chefs, CEOs and vulnerable Australians to put the spotlight on issues of food security, homelessness and challenges faced by youth in crisis. It’s also a fund-raiser for OzHarvest.
International Women’s Day was acknowledged and celebrated on March 11, and SSI used the occasion to highlight the strengths, vulnerabilities and specific needs of refugee women. SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said: “Refugee women are survivors, protectors and providers.”
SSI recently took a group of ‘Women at Risk’, and their children, for a day trip to the Blue Mountains. The SSI W@R (Woman at Risk) Committee arranged the excursion for about 30 clients who are deemed “at risk”. The group was a mix of refugee women and women seeking asylum.
Young Joo Byun is multilingual in an unusual way – she speaks Korean and English and also communicates through Korean and Auslan sign language. After a serious illness when six months old, Ms Byun’s mother suspected she had trouble hearing. This suspicion grew when Ms Byun’s younger brother started exceeding her in childhood milestones, and her deafness was confirmed when she was five years old.
There is still time to visit Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation’s Summer Art Exhibition, featuring the work of award-winning artist Bassam Jabar. The exhibition called Convergence is a collection of art produced specifically for the hospital by members of the Arts West Art Collective, of which Mr Jabar is a member. The Collective is made up of artists from refugee and migrant backgrounds based in western Sydney.