In the lead up to Refugee Week 2015, on Friday June 13, Settlement Services International (SSI) launched its Welcome to Sydney kit, an information resource for its refugee and asylum seeker clients. Thomas Albrecht, UNHCR Regional Representative, launched the kit before an audience of representatives from service providers for new arrivals, government departments, humanitarian settlement providers, SSI refugee clients and Migrant Resource Centre members.

SSI case manager Shabeera Zia has been awarded the STARTTS Youth Humanitarian award at the Refugee Week launch event in Wollongong today, June 12. The theme for Refugee Week 2015 is ‘With courage let us all combine’, taken from the second verse of Australia’s national anthem.

SSI case manager Shabeera Zia has been awarded the STARTTS Youth Humanitarian award at the Refugee Week launch event in Wollongong today, June 12. The theme for Refugee Week 2015 is ‘With courage let us all combine’, taken from the second verse of Australia’s national anthem.

I want to talk about an African woman, a single mother, who has five children and had never set foot outside of her small village until she was forced to flee as a refugee. The humanitarian crisis that gripped her home included all the horrors that are too common to refugees around the world.

During Volunteer Week, on May 12, SSI held a lunch to celebrate and express its huge gratitude to the wonderful volunteers who help the organisation support its clients every day. SSI has about 170 volunteers who have provided a great range of support.

During Refugee Week, on Friday June 19, photographs documenting the experiences of refugees will be featured at Courage, an exhibition at Sydney Dance Lounge, Walsh Bay. The public is invited to attend this exhibition, and enjoy some drinks and canapes, to raise funds for SSI Ignite Small Business Start-ups, an enterprise facilitation program for refugees.

If you are on Newstart allowance, between Monday May 25 and Friday June 5, you can choose who your employment service provider will be. If you need a change, SSI is a provider that will support you through the employment journey.

A belated Mother’s Day was celebrated by about 60 mothers and 20 children from refugee backgrounds at Old Government House, Parramatta on Tuesday May 12. The women and their children are supported by SSI's Humanitarian Settlement programs. The ‘high tea’ event was a get-together for women in similar situations to socialise, while their children were entertained by face painting, games and craft activities.

Over the past month, through the Ability Links NSW (ALNSW) program, SSI Linkers assisted 159 new people to join activities and services in their communities. The new clients added to the 100 or so people who also received continued support through the program.  ALNSW is a program designed to help people with disability, their families and carers, have their needs met within their local communities.

June Simpson “I was a school counsellor, I specialised in emotional disturbance, and when I retired three years ago, I wanted to work with asylum seekers. I saw an article in The Sydney Morning Herald about SSI setting up a soccer team. I thought, what a great idea, giving asylum seekers a sense of purpose and inclusion.

SSI welcomed two esteemed academics at its Ashfield head office on April 30, for a roundtable discussion on countering violent extremism. Associate Professor Anne Aly, a research fellow and head of the Countering Online Violent Extremism Research (COVER) program at Curtin University, and Professor Andrew Jakubowicz, Chair in Sociology at the University of Technology Sydney, led the discussion.

To celebrate World Refugee Day on Saturday, June 20, SSI will host the inaugural New Beginnings: Refugee Arts and Culture Festival to showcase the talents of refugees and asylum seekers in the community. The festival will be held at Addison Road Community Centre, Marrickville, as a one-day celebration of the cultural expressions and heritage of people from diverse communities through performances, arts and craft displays, workshops and food tasting.

As mass atrocities displace millions of civilians around the world - many of them arriving as refugees in Australia - bringing justice to victims is of paramount importance. At this event, hear keynote presentations by Stephen J Rapp, US Ambassador-at-large for War Crimes Issues, and Phil Glendenning, President of the Refugee Council of Australia and Director of the Edmund Rice Centre. 

SSI’s Youth Projects Coordinator Dor Akech Achiek presented at the NSW Ombudsman Youth Week event to raise awareness to highlight the need for support for young refugees in Australia.  The aim of the event was to raise awareness about refugee youth and issues of rights abuse for this group of young people. It was also an opportunity to focus on the role of the NSW Ombudsman’s Youth Liaison Officer. 

Saeid, 25, is a champion in wrestling and judo and since being granted a work visa while he seeks asylum in Australia he hopes to find employment that will allow him to train other athletes in his chosen sports.  Saeid was a judo champion in his birth country Iran, but switched to wrestling when he arrived in Australia. Saeid has trained for five hours most days since.

SSI was honoured last November to be invited to join the committee of the International Metropolis Conference (IMC) after we participated in the event for the first time in Milan. Metropolis has a global network of 68 partner organisations in 23 countries. The network is composed of universities, think tanks, governments, service provider agencies and international organisations that work to enhance Metropolis’ collaborative approach on bridging research, policy and practice on migration and diversity. 

SSI and Fairfield MRC arranged for newly arrived young refugee clients to get to know their new city by going on a treasure hunt-style adventure based on the ‘Amazing Race’ TV show in the April school holidays. This was the second time around for this TV-inspired type of orientation excursion, which was based on a pilot excursion late last year.

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.

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.