Refugee Week action

 

Thursday 23^rd June I went to City of Ryde Council Chambers for CALD training.

 

What is CALD? It’s an acronym for Culturally and linguistically diverse people.

Our first speaker welcoming us was Gunjan Tripathi from Local Government.  Uma Menon was up next from CMRC (Community Migrant Resource Centre) whom our Club has been working with on the Refugee Welcome Packs  Project.

CMRC offer English lessons for Refugees, helping with housing issues and some costs.  They hold events for days like International Womens Day, Harmony Day and Refugee week.

 

Settlement Services International (SSI) Zoe Bell went through the processes Refugees go through with housing, visas, language, employment and everyday life maters and issues we take for granted.  This organization looks after 8 main areas all over Sydney and NSW. They have just over 200 volunteers on their books now and between them they speak over 80 languages. They help with Refugees by meeting them at the Airport, putting them in touch with the correct services, Social and economic participation, grief and loss, support people through leaving detention.

 

We heard from Belinda Green from STARTTS (Service for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors) in Northern Sydney.  Belinda gave us the harsh realities of the frontline in Syria. It doesn’t matter how long a Refugee has been in Australia they can still get help for free from STARTTS.

 

Most Settlements in Sydney happen in Fairfield, Liverpool and Auburn. It was interesting to know that Dee Why has the largest settlement of Tibetan Refugees around 1100.  Coffs Harbour, Newcastle and Wollongong are other areas that have settlements of Refugee populations.

 

Most of the Refugees in the world today are from Syria and numbers are reaching 4.9million Syria, 2.7million form Afghanistan,  Somalia 1.11million and South Sudan 778,700.  Recognized refugees 21.3 million, 40.8 million displaced and 3.2 asylum seekers. That’s over 60 million people without human rights.

 

We had a panel discussion with all of the speakers from the various services around 10 people sat on the panel including Salvation Army, Jesuit Refugee Service, House of Welcome and Sydney Multicultural Community Services.

 

The most  educational and humbling experience I had was listening to Germain, a refugee from The Republic of Congo who’s journey from the Congo to the UK and onto Australia was very harrowing.  Today, Germain is working with Refugees, has 7 children and a loving wife (whom he was reunited with 6 years ago and their 3 children at the time). He lives and loves Australia for it has given him his life back.

 

I would like to thank Uma Menon (CMRC) for inviting me to the training and Jonathan Nanlohy from City of Ryde Council for being a most welcoming host.