With many of SSI’s clients living under financial hardship, the organisation took further steps towards supporting their needs by launching its online donations page in time for Anti-Poverty Week in October.
SSI is a registered charitable organisation and all donations over the threshold of $2 are tax-deductible. CEO Violet Roumeliotis said the organisation was increasing its efforts to raise money through a dedicated fund-raising strategy to support its clients. The online donations site was a significant step forward for the strategy, Ms Roumeliotis said, and would allow SSI to receive donations from the public much more easily.
“Surveys of SSI’s case managers show that their asylum seeker clients often live without beds, warm clothes and essential household items such as cookware,” Ms Roumeliotis said. “Sometimes, when times are particularly tough, they need help accessing adequate food. Clients who have babies or are pregnant can be particularly vulnerable and often need support to access essential baby items.
“People who have an affinity for supporting humanitarian causes hear that refugees are struggling with health problems and isolation, and they want to help. One way people can help is through charitable donations that will help SSI fund programs that support these people.
“SSI will be fundraising in multiple ways over the coming months to help these charitable initiatives prosper, and the generous support of the community will be greatly appreciated.”
The donations page on the SSI website links to an encrypted card payment system hosted by Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Ms Roumeliotis said the website was stage one of a donations site that would grow in the future to offer supporters more initiatives and specific needs they could donate to.
Bashir fled Afghanistan, where war was still raging, after his parents died. He lived for eight months in Pakistan with an aunt but conditions there, where Hazaras also risk murder or torture by other groups, compelled him to leave.
So Bashir travelled with no family or adult guardian, but was accompanied by young friends of a similar age who he had met in Pakistan. Bashir speaks of his young friends like they have known one another for a lifetime.
“I’m still in contact with some of them and we talk always; we talk of the struggle,” he said.
From Indonesia, Bashir and his friends took the perilous boat trip to Christmas Island where they arrived safely to claim refugee protection from Australia in 2010. The new arrivals were then kept in detention on the island for about three months.
Bashir spoke no English and had little understanding of the country he was asking to accept him as a refugee. He had only heard that it was safe, he said.
“I had come from a third world country to a first world country,” the now 17-year-old said. “As a young man, a young boy, at age 13, coming to Australia it was very difficult. I didn’t even know where Australia was. I had not heard of Australia before coming here.”
Bashir was sent from Christmas Island to a detention centre in Melbourne, where he spent another three months before being granted a permanent protection visa. Free to live in Australia, Bashir faced new barriers to integrate.
“The most difficult thing was the barrier of English, because every single minute of your life you need it,” Bashir, who is now fluent in English, said. “When I first came here, in detention, I could not even ask the guard for a bottle of water. I learnt about 15 words a day. And when I was released from detention, I told my guardian ‘you must enroll me in school straight away’. I had no schooling in Afghanistan.”
Bashir now lives with two friends in Merrylands, western Sydney, and is vice-captain at Holroyd High School, where he will finish his HSC exams this month.
“It is a great honour,” he said, “that you can come all the way from Afghanistan and with no schooling or English and today be able to finish the HSC, and to be able to share my story with people. It’s absolutely incredible, where I have come from; I think I have done very well.
“There are a lot of positives, but also many negatives. My father being killed, my mother dying from cancer, but I try to focus on the positives.”
Bashir has applied to study at the University of Western Sydney and University of Technology Sydney. He hopes to one day be an accountant.
On November 11, Bashir will tell his story in detail at SSI’s Speakers’ Series, titled The strength of youth: young people and their refugee experiences. He will be joined by two other speakers with similar, but unique, backgrounds before the three speakers join a panel discussion.
Event Details:
Date: Tuesday November 11, 2014
Time: 6-7.30pm
Location: SSI Auditorium, Level 2, 158 Liverpool Road, Ashfield
Admission by donation. RSVP: refugeeyouth.eventbrite.com.au
Media enquiries:
SSI Online Communications Coordinator, Callan Lawrence, 0478 156 491 or 02 8799 6746
SSI Communications Officer, Rekha Sanghi 0422 304 578
Thursday, October 30, 2014
There are more than 15,000 young people, aged 12 to 24, from refugee backgrounds currently living in NSW. SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said these young people came to Australia with profound stories that should be shared.
“Their experiences are diverse and in some instances have created specific needs, such as mental and physical health problems, that require support from the community,” Ms Roumeliotis said. “But those refugee experiences have also empowered young people to be leaders, and strengthened the resolve of individuals to take opportunities and reach their potential.”
This SSI Speakers Series event will hear from three exceptional young people about their experiences of coming to Australia from Afghanistan and Iraq, and will discuss what is needed to support young people like them to reach their potential.
Sarah Yahya, 19, is one of the three youth speakers at the event. Since coming to Australia from Iraq, via Jordan, in 2007, Sarah has been awarded a High Order of Australia for Community Service, a Defence Force of Australia Leadership Award and Rotary Youth Leadership Award. Sarah has been chosen as an Australian representative at the 2015 Harvard National Model United Nations, and was sponsored by the University of Technology Sydney — where she is completing a combined journalism and international studies degree — to attend. Sarah volunteers at youth mental health service HeadSpace, as well as several other community organisations. She is also hearing impaired.
Sarah fled Iraq with her mother and sister, to be joined by their father later, because people of their Mandaean religion were being attacked and persecuted. “My sister and I didn’t know at first why we were fleeing,” she explained, “for a long time we thought it was because of the war. We didn’t know that our religion was persecuted. This was good in a way, it protected us, but it made problems in future. When we came to Australia and it was explained about our religion, it made us think we didn’t know who we were or what our identity was.
“Growing up was very complicated. I think people settling in Australia from another country may not realise the challenges – the mental health challenges. That’s why I got involved in my local HeadSpace, because there are people with depression in the community and I wanted to prevent people going through what I went through.”
Asif Haideri will also present at the Speakers’ Series. Asif is a Hazara refugee from Afghanistan who arrived in Australia in November 2012. In the two years he has lived in Sydney, Asif has developed as a talented speaker known for sharing his story at public events. He is also a Refugee Art Project participant.
Bashir Yousufi, 17, arrived in Australia in 2010 at age 13. In 2012, Bashir represented Australia in Geneva at the Discussion for the Committee on the Rights of the Child, where he shared his experiences as a child in immigration detention. He is Vice-Captain of Holroyd High School, where he is currently completing his HSC, and is on the Student Representative Council. He is the winner of Western Sydney Refugee Youth Awards 2014 – Community Leadership Award.
Following these three opening presentations, the youth presenters will join a panel discussion with SSI Youth Projects Coordinator for Multicultural Youth NSW, Ryan Buesnel and SSI Case Manager Marcela Hart. The discussion, with audience questions, will be facilitated by broadcaster Emma Couch.
Event Details: The strength of youth: young people and their refugee experiences
Date: Tuesday November 11, 2014
Time: 6:00-7:30pm
Location: SSI Auditorium, Level 2, 158 Liverpool Road, Ashfield
Admission by donation. RSVP: refugeeyouth.eventbrite.com.au
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Media enquiries:
SSI Online Communications Coordinator, Callan Lawrence, 0478 156 491 or 02 8799 6746
SSI Communications Officer, Rekha Sanghi 0422 304 578
“They have really been enjoying themselves and I’m glad they’ve had the opportunity to learn something new and something they might otherwise have never been able to try,” Mr Podesta said
Mr Podesta had been discussing the idea of introducing tennis to refugees with one of his tennis coaches, Mr Daniel Hopkins.
Mr Hopkins is a case manager with Settlement Services International, a not-for-profit organisation that, among other services, is the largest provider of humanitarian settlement support to refugees in NSW.
Mr Hopkins grew up playing tennis and wanted to share his love of the sport with some of his younger clients.
“It was very fortuitous that just as Tony and I were throwing around this idea, Tennis Australia was offering a grant for a multicultural pilot program,” Mr Hopkins said.
Together they submitted a proposal and The Tony Podesta School of Tennis was chosen to run a pilot program that Tennis NSW has observed carefully for a possible national roll out.
“We (Tennis NSW) are keen to increase community engagement and create a nurturing environment in which people from multicultural backgrounds can learn to play tennis,” said Tennis NSW Program Manager Michelle Howe.
“I watched a class last week and the kids couldn’t get enough. You could see that they were really enjoying themselves, and they didn’t want to give up the court when it was the parents’ turn”, Ms Howe said.
Mr Podesta said that tennis is a sport you can play at any level and any time.
“You can play daily at a competitive level, or you can play once a week when you’re retired. It’s social and healthy, and as I said, it stays with you for life,” he said. “I hope these new comers will choose to continue with tennis when this program ends.”
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Media enquiries:
SSI Online Communications Coordinator, Callan Lawrence, 0478 156 491 or 02 8799 6746
SSI Communications Officer, Rekha Sanghi 0422 304 578
The panel discussion featured three experts with experiences in three different social institutions: academia, the media and the police. Professor Andrew Markus, a refugee himself who came from Hungary as a boy in 1957, is a lecturer at Monash University and head of the Scanlon Foundation Social Cohesion Research program. He presented research to the audience of 80 or more from his longitudinal studies on perceptions of migration found in the Foundation’s Social Cohesion reports. Following the keynote presentation, Professor Markus joined a panel with journalist and author Chris Rau, NSW Police Superintendent Mark Wright, and discussion mediator Oliver Laughland, journalist for The Guardian.
Some intriguing points from Professor Markus’s recent research included:
- 25 per cent of Australians think the government’s asylum seeker policies are “too soft”
- 22 per cent think they are “too tough”
- Most people agreed the policies are about right
- Yet 79 per cent of respondents support humanitarian resettlement in Australia
Does support for resettlement of people judged refugees off-shore contradict perceptions of asylum seekers who come by boat and policies affecting them, Professor Markus asked. He argued that Australia’s unique geography that isolated the population, combined with the fact immigration had always been controlled by governments, were significant influences on the hardline stance of Australians against boat arrivals.
Professor Markus said longitudinal survey results suggested Australians had more positive views about multiculturalism generally than other national populations. He proposed that neither media nor politics drove these views but rather social values and people’s own lived experiences of multiculturalism, which were generally positive.
A lively debate followed, with Ms Rau, Professor Markus and Superintendent Wright challenging each other’s understanding of these perceptions, where they came from and how, and if they could be changed. The whole event was streamed live on UStream and an edited version will be published to SSI’s new YouTube channel soon.
An Unaccompanied Humanitarian Minor is a young person under the age of 18 years without a parent or guardian who is a refugee under Australia’s Offshore Humanitarian Program or has been granted a Protection Visa in Australia.
Research shows that youth from a refugee background are up to 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than Australian born youth [1].
SSI Manager Humanitarian Services, David Keegan said the organisation’s reason for filming ‘Broken Time’ was to highlight the distinct challenges faced by young refugees who find themselves in this situation. The production of Broken Time was supported by Yfoundations, a peak body representing young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
“Many unaccompanied youth have been separated from their family due to violent conflict or persecution, and have experienced or witnessed significant trauma, instability and a broken, if any, education,” said Mr Keegan.
“Becoming homeless, in a new country, is a double loss for them. Challenges associated with adjusting to a new culture and language, compounded with a lack of knowledge about how to access support services and employment, create a highly vulnerable group.”
Broken Time also explores some of the commonality of youth homelessness through Ali’s encounter with a young local girl he meets on the street.
Director and producer of Broken Time Barry Gamba, developed the script through collaborations with refugees, UHM and homeless youth, who drew on their experiences to inform the narrative.
“The story contrasts two main characters and the experiences that have resulted in their homelessness,” said Mr Gamba.
“One is rendered homeless through a history of domestic violence and wants nothing to do with her family, while the other is homeless as a result of political violence, and would do anything to be reunited with his family again.”
Mr Keegan said that it’s a unique predicament that UHMs face.
“The specific issues and barriers they can encounter require specialist training for people who work with young refugees and with homeless youth,” said Mr Keegan.
“SSI has developed specialist training for its case managers to help them provide support for UHMs. Obviously, not having the support of their families, they have different support needs than other refugees who arrive as humanitarian entrants.”
Incredibly, this adversity highlights the resilience that many young refugees possess.
“They have a lot to negotiate, but the situation often highlights their skills in adaptability and resourcefulness, which manifests in their determination to succeed here.”
Dilber enjoyed his first acting experience, drawing on his knowledge from a Diploma in Communication he did when living in Islamabad.
“I hope this story will help people understand and respect the journey that refugees make,” he said.
UHM program operates in a changing environment and cohorts may change in line with changing international trends and government policy. As at June 2012 there were 865 UHM in Australia predominantly 16 to 17-year-old males with the majority coming form from Afghanistan [2].
The film has been produced as an educational tool for high schools, TAFE and organisations working with young people from a refugee background and in the homelessness and housing sector.
For organisations interested in getting a copy of the film, please email hmuir@ssi.org.au
1 Finding Home In Victoria (2010) The Centre for Multicultural Youth
2 Unaccompanied Humanitarian Minors in Australia, MYAN Policy Paper 2012
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Media enquiries:
SSI Communications Officer, Rekha Sanghi 0422 304 578
SSI Marketing and Communications Manager, Angela Calabrese 0401 284 828
Professor Markus said his presentation would examine survey findings since 2000 and seek to establish whether attitudes were consistent or had changed over time. It will also discuss differences within demographics of the population, he said.
“Examination of survey data is useful to provide understanding of the extent to which attitudes are shaped by political debate and the media, as distinct from basic values of Australian people,” Professor Markus said. “Consideration of public opinion within the European Union provides scope to further understand the distinctive characteristics, if any, of Australian opinion. Are Australians, for example, more xenophobic than Europeans?”
A panel discussion featuring Professor Markus, journalist and author Chris Rau and Commander of Management and Leadership Development for the NSW Police Force Mark Wright, will follow the presentation.
Chris Rau is a print journalist with 30 years’ experience writing for national and metropolitan newspapers and magazines in Sydney and Melbourne. She also published a handbook for media newcomers and students titled Dealing with the Media (UNSW Press, 2010). She has written on asylum seeker issues since 2005. She is also the sister of Cornelia Rau, a German citizen and Australian permanent resident who was wrongfully detained in 2004 and 2005 as part of the Australian Government’s mandatory detention program.
Superintendent Wright was Local Area Commander of Blacktown Police from June 2008 to December 2013. During his time at Blacktown, Superintendent Wright was highly commended for his work with the multicultural community. In 2010 he was awarded a Humanitarian Award by the Refugee Council of Australia and NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) and in 2012 was named a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary (International) in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the better understanding and friendly relations between peoples of the world. He is the founder and former chair of the COM4Unity Project. His work in Blacktown has been the feature of positive news stories on A Current Affair and the ABC’s 7.30 programs as well as in The Sydney Morning Herald and local newspapers.
Date and time: Tuesday August 26, 2014 from 6:00 to 7:30pm
Location: SSI Auditorium, Level 2, 158 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield
Attendance by media: see contacts below
Attendance by public: register at Eventbrite.com.au.
………………………………………………END……………………………………………………
Media enquiries:
SSI Online Communications Coordinator, Callan Lawrence, 0478 156 491 or 02 8799 6746
SSI Communications Officer, Rekha Sanghi 0422 304 578
SSI Marketing and Communications Manager, Angela Calabrese 0401 284 828
SSI Coordinator Janna Sharples observed the Ramadan fasting period for the first time on Wednesday, July 16. “I wanted to have some understanding of what my staff members go through during Ramadan,” she said. It was an opportunity to learn more about Ramadan.”
After rising at 4.30am to eat breakfast, Janna said – with comical anecdote – that going without water had been the most difficult aspect of fasting. “I’ve learnt that you really can’t live without water,” she said, “no food has been fine but water is a struggle. I actually watered the office plants hoping that it would somehow quench my own thirst.”
But at 5.25pm, Janna could pour herself a drop. She was not alone as people queued out the door at Auburn Centre for Community to break their fast with a feast that started with dates and included pizza, pasta and vegetables.
The food was donated by the Mission of Hope organisation, whose volunteers also served and gave food packages and blankets to CSP clients. Mission of Hope Executive and Project Coordinator Feroz Sattar said the organisation had collected some 30,000 donations and packaged about 1,000 food hampers during Ramadan. Its volunteers had also served 120 hot meals to families “doing it tough”, he said.
After enjoying a meal and helping to clean and organise, Jawad commented on the day’s challenges. “Yes, it is difficult but it is very good to be a good man,” he said. It is not only for religious people but for all people.”
Ability Links coordinators, called “Linkers”, will work with clients to connect them with local communities in order to shape a more inclusive society for people with disability and their families.
Linkers will help people with disability, their carers and families plan for their futures, build on their strengths and skills, and develop networks in their own communities so they can achieve their potential.
The program provides people with a locally based, first point of contact to support people to access support and services in their local communities. Linkers also work with local communities to help them become more welcoming and inclusive of people with disability.
“The relative quickness that Yasmi was granted protection and brought to Sydney to be united with her family and friends who can care for her, is a testament to Australia’s successful humanitarian program and something we should all be proud of.”
Yasmi’s story begins in a small farming town on the border of Turkey and Iraq called Madia, where she was born on July 1, 1912.
“We used to grow a lot of rice,” Yasmi said with her friend Nada Shiba, who she now lives with, interpreting. “We did everything by hand.”
“We had cows and sheep. We took them in to the mountains to graze. We used to make butter, yogurt, and cheese. We even made our own bread. I was very happy.”
Yasmi married when she was 18 and lived with her husband in the town where she was born and raised. She had two children, a boy and a girl, and they lived in relative safety as the First World War passed.
Then, the series of conflicts broadly referred to as the Assyrian Genocide reached the region. In 1933, Yasmi and her family fled as Christian Assyrians were killed in towns around them. An estimated 750,000 Assyrians were killed in the genocide but Yasmi and her family were lucky.
Yasmi said her first marriage did not work out and her husband moved with her children to Syria. She remarried in 1941, as World War II reached the region, to a man who had two young children, a boy and a girl, who she raised as her own.
Years later, Yasmi moved to live with Aokil Yonan, another Assyrian woman whose brother had married her daughter. The pair would spend the next 35 years together.
The eight-year war between Iran and Iraq came and went. The second Iraq War reached Yasmi and she again feared for her life. After a bomb exploded outside their home, Yasmi and Aokil escaped to Syria in 2008.
“I was so scared,” she said. “I had no bad feelings about leaving.”
As the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, bombings again closed in on Yasmi and Aokil until one exploded in their street, destroying houses and shattering windows in their home.
Yasmi and Aokil applied together for humanitarian visas with the Australian Embassy in Jordan. But although both were accepted, they were separated for many months. Aokil, now 72, first arrived in Sydney in August last year, and moved in with her cousin Nada. Yasmi was finally brought to Sydney in January.
“I was so happy to be in Australia,” she said, “it is a place for all the needy, all the poor and hungry people.”
Now, as the Middle East lurches from crisis to crisis, Yasmi and Aokil can finally live in peace.
– By Callan Lawrence
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Media enquiries:
SSI Online Communications Coordinator, Callan Lawrence, 0478 156 491, or, 02 8799 6746
SSI Marketing and Communications Manager, Angela Calabrese 0401 284 828