In partnership with Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre (BEMAC), the festivities included a showcase of music, poetry, dance, food, sport, arts and culture from around the world.
 
 

 The World of Cultures event featured included a showcase of culture from around the world.

 

The event hosted Logan City Council’s bid to join the Welcoming Cities initiative, which signals to the community as well as new migrants and refugees that the area’s cultural diversity is appreciated and valued.

A national initiative, Welcoming Cities is about inclusivity and social cohesion. So far up to 70 areas around Australia, representing 10 million citizens, have signed up.

This means they are committed to creating communities where everyone can feel that they belong and can participate equally in social, cultural, economic and civic life.

The Queensland city of Logan is home to an increasingly diverse population, with almost 30 per cent of residents born overseas. It is also one of Australia’s top ten humanitarian migrant settlement areas.

 

Local MP and Federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, attended the event to share in the festivities.

Local MP and Federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, attended the event to share in the festivities.

 

SSI’s General Manager Service Delivery, Yamamah Agha, spoke at the August 26 event, which was attended by local MP and Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers and City of Logan Mayor Darren Power along with hundreds of community members and their families.

Yamamah applauded the council’s efforts to ensure Logan was a welcoming place for migrants and refugees. This vision strongly aligns with the work of Access and SSI.

‘We’re not just working in local communities, we’re also working to create a world that is kinder, a world that is more compassionate and a world that gives everyone the same opportunity to realise their full potential,’ Yamamah said.

Community leader Beny Bol OAM said the event was a true reflection of the real ‘United Nations of Logan’.

‘It is about embracing and celebrating our diversity and creating a welcoming space for all the newly emerging multicultural communities, and we showcased this in a spectacular style of celebration,’ he said.

City of Logan Mayor Darren Power said the Welcoming Cities membership broadens Council’s commitment as a Refugee Welcome Zone and will further enhance community connections and activities that embrace all migrants in the city.

The free family event was made possible thanks to a generous grant from the Queensland Government’s Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs. 

 

Access Community Services is part of the SSI Group.

 


Bev was engaged by the SSI Local Area Coordination (LAC) program to develop an artwork that speaks to the First Nations community. This artwork tells of her family’s journey with disability, and reflects inclusion, identity and belonging.

Morus Quin is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community. Morus was engaged by the SSI Local Area Coordination (LAC) program to develop an artwork that speaks to the LGBTQIA+ community. The artwork reflects her journey with inclusion, identity and belonging, and speaks of her hope and optimism for the future.

After two years as a participant with SSI’s Local Area Coordination (LAC) program, Sabrina Morini, a 22-year-old woman with autism spectrum disorder, is kicking goals and keeping her sights set on the future.

(more…)
SSI fully supports the recommendations made in the Uluru Statement of the Heart, including an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Prime Minister Albanese has released a draft, simple form of words that could be put to Australians in a referendum, paving the way for First Nations people to take a rightful place in their own country.

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities have an important role to play in supporting this proposal and elevating understanding of the challenges facing community members whose voices are often invisible to mainstream Australia.

There are many synergies between the First Nations and the migrant/refugee experience.

The sense of connection to their land of birth is important to those who leave their homelands to come to Australia – many arriving with a rich cultural and spiritual legacy and deep connections with the land.

Migrants and refugees can also relate to issues of land loss, trauma and being torn away from their people and traditional ways of life.

Those we work with, and many who work for multicultural community organisations, know firsthand what it is like to feel as though they don’t belong.

I’ve seen this in my work in CALD organisations, and in my own family, where many family members struggled to build a connection to mainstream Australia after migrating here from Greece after the second world war.

It is heart-breaking to be misunderstood or discriminated against simply because of difference. Whether that is difference of language, difference of customs, different spiritual beliefs, or different skin colour. We all benefit when our differences are recognised and celebrated. Sense of belonging grows when we are treated equally.

A key role of organisations working in the multicultural space, like Settlement Services International, is to welcome people from all over the world to our country.

We welcome them to a place where First Nations people have had a continuous connection to the land for more than 60,000 years, contributing culture, wisdom and care for the land that has not always been acknowledged, respected or considered.

But we reached a point in time where many of our First Nations people often don’t feel welcomed in their own land.

It is something that cuts to the heart of the experiences of multicultural communities too, where individuals and families often feel cutoff from the mainstream, despite making significant cultural, social and economic contributions to their new homes.

I acknowledge that discussions of constitutional matters can seem complex, and the debate might seem confusing or perhaps even not very relevant to migrants or new Australians who have their own issues to deal with.

However, to use the words of Prime Minister Albanese, it really boils down to ‘common decency, common courtesy and common sense’.

As he says, when governments listen to people, their policies can be more effective. Just as we want politicians to listen to CALD communities from hundreds of different backgrounds, and to understand their needs so that they may live a life where they can achieve their full potential, so we should ask it for First Nations people. It’s the right and decent thing to do.

What can we in the community services sector do then to help support this momentous opportunity for positive change?

Individually, we can reach out to First Nations people and organisations in our local area to better educate ourselves about Aboriginal culture and history. We can incorporate their voice in the work we do, and ensure we engage and hear from them often.

We can recognise that just as the newcomers we work for are from a variety of different nations, First Nations people in this country are from various countries with different customs and protocols. We need to make sure our consultations are place based and incorporate the appropriate cultural awareness.

Each day we can play our part in creating culturally safe places for First Nations people, whether at work or in community.

We can learn more about the Uluru Statement of the Heart and the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and talk to our family and friends about it, so that when the time comes, we can support the referendum.

CALD organisations are uniquely positioned to help educate new arrivals and create allies to the cause.

We can do this by incorporating recognition of First Nations people into our service delivery and encouraging respect and curiosity about the world’s oldest living culture.

CALD groups can support reconciliation by creating a First Nations voice in everything they do, as we are committed to doing at SSI.

SSI fully supports the recommendations made in the Uluru Statement of the Heart and we will play our part in supporting a yes vote in a referendum.

I urge you to join us. It’s time, Australia.

The community of carers weaved throughout SSI’s programs ensures there’s always a helping hand when someone reaches out for support.

(more…)

Do you see foster care and adoption as two sides of the same coin? If you’d like to find out whether fostering is right for you, it’s important to understand these two choices are very different.  

(more…)

Saying goodbye to the children Afet has fostered is never easy. Over the years she’s learnt to appreciate the positive parts of that final farewell.  

(more…)

Lisa* didn’t expect her foster care experience to turn out quite like this: zipping around supermarket aisles, sourcing ingredients to make her first Samoan curry.

(more…)

Most people begin their foster care journey with little more than a spare room and a desire to provide a home for a child in need. That’s all Lisa* had when she saw an online ad calling for more foster homes.

(more…)