It’s Refugee Week and we’ve got plenty of great things planned.
The week provides a platform to promote positive images of refugees to create a culture of welcome in Australia.
The celebration works to create better understanding between different communities and encourage successful integration to allow refugees to live in safety and make a valuable contribution to Australia.
World Refugee Day is celebrated on June 20.
The Refugee Week theme this year is ‘with courage let us all combine’ and the event aims to:
- to educate the Australian public about who refugees are and why they have come to Australia;
- to help people understand the many challenges refugees face coming to Australia;
- to celebrate the contribution refugees make to our community and focus on how the community can provide a safe and welcoming environment for refugees;
- for community groups and individuals to do something positive for refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people; and
- for service providers to reflect on whether they are providing the best possible services to refugees.\
So, how is Bendigo Community Health Services working to acheive these things during Refugee Week.
We will host a dinner featuring young representatives from the Rural Australians for Refugees group and members of our Karen and Afghan youth groups to increase cross cultural learning and better understanding of the journey to Australia made by many refugee families.
To encourage learning and cultural awareness across the community the BCHS settlement services team will host a series of training workshops run by the Centre for Multicultural Youth. To book a place visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cultural-competency-and-settlement-training-tickets-34268091785
A Jamshod Dinner on June 25 will see members of the Afghan community sharing a meal and stories with Bendigo business and community leaders to increase understanding of the refugee journey and build relationships.Today, meet the first of those staff -
And we will introduce you to some of our valuable staff who have experienced their own journeys on the way to settling in Bendigo and helping others who are following their paths.
Another training workshop during the week will offer the community the opportunity to enhance and learn new skills for working with people of refugee background.
We purchase a special book box from the Communities For Children program that is designed to encourage reading and learning by refugee families.
And we will introduce you to some of our valuable staff who have experienced their own journeys on the way to settling in Bendigo and helping others who are following their paths. Meet them at http://bit.ly/RefugeeWeekstories