Welcome to the SSI Food Blog. Whether they are SSI employees, volunteers, refugees or people seeking asylum, the people featured here all share a love of food. One of the many benefits of multiculturalism is delicious food, so let’s enjoy! Mostafa  In Iran this is a very popular dish that we would eat minimum one time a week with the family. I learnt to cook from my parents and from my friend. 

Welcome to the SSI Food Blog. Whether they are SSI employees, volunteers, refugees or people seeking asylum, the people featured here all share a love of food. One of the many benefits of multiculturalism is delicious food, so let’s enjoy! Laith Al Mandowi In Baghdad there are two long rivers that run from north to south and surround the city. Growing up there, we would go to those rivers to play dominoes, smoke shisha, and of course to eat and drink at the many popular riverside barbecue restaurants. One of the dishes I loved to eat was Qubba; a dish of chicken-stuffed couscous balls cooked in a fragrant stew.

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.

Welcome to the SSI Food Blog. Whether they are SSI employees, volunteers, refugees or people seeking asylum, the people featured here all share a love of food. One of the many benefits of multiculturalism is delicious food, so let’s enjoy!  Suresh Babu Tagarapu As a once-in-a-decade storm battered Sydney in late April, up to 120 people seeking asylum in Australia braved the conditions to get to SSI’s Community Kitchen in Auburn. Having just worked a night-shift, Suresh and his team were on hand at the Community Kitchen volunteering their time to prepare a delicious lunch for everyone.   

Welcome to the SSI Food Blog. Whether they are SSI employees, volunteers, refugees or people seeking asylum, the people featured here all share a love of food. One of the many benefits of multiculturalism is delicious food, so let's enjoy!  Sajeeda Bahadurmia Sajeeda regularly shares her culinary talents by cooking for up to 150 people at SSI's fortnightly Community Kitchens for people seeking asylum in Sydney. She came to Australia in 2013, with her husband and three children to seek asylum from Myanmar.

People born in Australia may take it for granted that they can travel to Canberra and visit Parliament House. But Jawad, who was born in Afghanistan and lived in Pakistan before seeking asylum in Australia, was astonished when he learnt anyone could see the rooms where parliamentarians sit.

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.

Mark June 20, 2015, in your diaries as we celebrate hope, unity and new beginnings on World Refugee Day! Join SSI for a one-day celebration showcasing the cultural expressions and heritage of newly arrived artists and emerging communities, including talented SSI clients.

SSI Youth Collective steering committee member Sarah Yahya added another award to her collection of accolades when presented with the Premier’s Multicultural Youth Award last week. Sarah, her mother and sister, came to Australia as refugees from Iraq in 2007. The family had spent seven years in Jordan after fleeing Iraq suddenly in the middle of the night when Sarah’s father was arrested.

Waking up to the voices of news broadcasts from three different radios, and sometimes also the television, is an almost daily ritual for Felix Bennett. Some mornings, Mr Bennett hears a sports story that he has submitted and he gets a rush of excitement. “It makes me happy for the day and makes me feel special,” Mr Bennett said about hearing his story on the radio.

After months of hard work since its inception in July 2014, the start of 2015 saw almost 20 launches of the Ability Links NSW program, culminating in the major Parramatta and Wollongong events. SSI is proud to be funded by the NSW Government to implement this program in partnership with UnitingCare and St Vincent de Paul throughout NSW; a program that will help change the lives of people with disability, their families and carers.

Celebrations as an SSI client was ‘Highly Commended’ was a highlight for a group of SSI staff and clients who attended the 2015 Zest Awards at ANZ Stadium on February 19. SSI was nominated in two categories for two Community Engagement initiatives, Community Kitchen and Playtime.

Radical appeal: Young people and religious extremism Recent events have thrown a spotlight on religious extremism and its enactment through violent acts. Government, media and the public have shown concern at the vulnerability of young Muslims towards the influence of extremist ideology. This Speakers’ Series explores why young people in contemporary Australia might be attracted to an extreme religious ideology.

NSW Minister for Citizenship and Communities, Victor Dominello, donned an apron to cook up a free lunch for up a group of asylum seekers at the SSI Community Kitchen in Auburn. Mr Dominello, whose grandparents migrated to Australia from Italy, said he was honoured to meet with asylum seekers, SSI employees and volunteers, and to have the opportunity to share his love of cooking with them.

This Speakers’ Series will explore how and why young Muslims might be feeling disenfranchised within the Australian community and attracted to an extreme religious ideology. What has been done? What can be done? Join us for an evening of engaging discussion that will explore these current and complicated issues.

This year marks 40 years since the Racial Discrimination Act was passed and SSI will be supporting the Australian Human Rights Commission’s conference convened to reflect on the Act’s significance. At SSI we work with culturally and linguistically diverse communities, including people from refugee backgrounds and asylum seekers. We consider the Act an important piece of the social framework that provides rights to all Australians.

SSI was busy throughout December–January celebrating the achievements of Ability Links NSW and introducing the program to local communities. Ability Links NSW (ALNSW) supports people with a disability, their families and carers to live the life they want, as valued members of their community.

Students of Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School (SCEGGS) Darlinghurst, and their families have dug deep and raised more than $4,000 for SSI’s refugee and asylum seeker clients, as well as food packages. SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said the generous donation was a boost that would benefit many people.

‘Tis the season for giving and membersof Hillsong Church have continued their generous support for SSI’s asylum seeker clients with donations of food and gifts for children and families. The church has supplied Christmas presents for about 100 children in Sydney who are seeking asylum, as well as food hampers for families.

I was incredibly heartened to see the thousands of people from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds who walked together on October 25, to show their support for a multicultural Australia where all people are respected.