Immediately after moving to Australia from Sri Lanka in 2018, Jayanthi, who has more than 15 years of experience working in the Non-For-Profit (NFP) sector, began looking for opportunities to volunteer and work with Australian organisations.
Read more: "The more we give, the happier we feel" – SSI Volunteer Jayanthi
When Kim* and her husband first started with SSI’s Multicultural Foster Care program, they thought they would ease themselves into the foster caring with short-term care arrangements.
Read more: Perseverance and growth: Kim’s foster care journey
COVID-19 has touched everyone around the globe, causing economies to come crashing to a halt, shut-downs to be mandated and borders to close.
Read more: From the CEO: Beating the isolation of closed borders through community connection
Serina Saka arrived in Australia as a refugee from Iraq after spending four years in Lebanon with her parents and four siblings.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in Australia I have been deeply disturbed by the increase in racist harassment, reporting and attacks on culturally diverse Australians, with several community members reaching out to me to express their fear and concern over the situation.
Read more: From the CEO: New data shows we must stop the migrant blame game
“There are many, many honest and hardworking taxpayers, now unemployed in our communities who have almost no support. They are in serious crisis,” said SSI Community Engagement Practitioner, Paula Ben David.
Read more: Hardworking taxpayers left with almost no support: an insight
Last week marked the seven-year anniversary of Australia’s introduction of offshore processing of refugees. In a weird twist of fate, Kurdish-Iranian journalist – and former Manus Island detainee - Behrouz Boochani was granted permanent protection in New Zealand just a few days later.
Since moving to Australia in 1998 due to political and civil unrest in Iraq, Bashar Hanna has faced and overcome the many challenges of establishing himself personally and professionally in a foreign land.
Read more: Social Engineer draws on experience to support others through COVID-19
Ethiopian refugee and 33-year old single mother Adi Tefera arrived in Australia as a young child. Today she keeps herself busy in Sydney with her young son Yonathon along with her passion for food and a rapidly expanding pipeline of new business projects.
