John Mashar arrived in Australia as a refugee from Sudan at age nine. Now at age 21, John told SSI how he was using his experience as a young refugee settling in a new country to help other young people through the Youth Collective.  “I was born in South Sudan. Sudan is split into north and south. The north has closer relations to the Arab world, like much of North Africa. They’re mostly Muslims and they have an Arab culture. The south, where I was from, has closer relations to sub-Saharan Africa, so they’re mostly Christians, they’re animists, and they have very strong African traditions.

SSI began searching for a suitable office in the Bankstown area in September 2014, to accommodate staff and service needs of the SRSS program, the Multicultural Foster Care Service and Ability Links NSW, along with meeting, interview, training and function rooms. “(SSI General Manager) Peter Zographakis suggested that we check out a brand new site called Little Saigon Plaza, which was so good that we assumed it would be too expensive for SSI to lease in,” said Janine Stainer, SSI Facilities and Operations Manager.