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MelaleucaNewsletter

A tri-annual publication promoting community connection

My name is Lar Khu Jue and I come from Burma and I have been in Darwin for one year and a half. I met my wife Htoo Bway in a refugee camp. After we married, we desired to come to Australia

because life in the camp was very difficult. There was not enough food, also sometimes in the early summer we were afraid that the Burmese military soldiers would come to burn the camp. So I applied for a visa and I had to wait for one and a half years.

When I got the visa, the International Officer of Migrants took me to Bangkok International Airport. They helped me all the way until I got in the plane.

When I entered the plane I saw many white men who had big bodies and looked tough and healthy. I felt a bit scared and sat quiet in my chair. I

also thought to myself, if I was big like them, I wouldn’t have to go to Australia. I would have joined the Karen National Union Liberation Army instead, because in the Thai-Burma border area, the Burmese soldiers always kill Karen people and burn their villages. These are the reasons why my people become refugees.

When I arrived at Darwin Airport, I was still scared wondering if there would be anyone there to meet me. But to my surprise, I was greeted by Sonya my Case Coordinator, some Karen community members and my volunteers who brought me flowers. Then I started feeling better. It was the first time I had ever received flowers in my life.

Amongst my volunteers, I became particularly close to Melanie. She invited us for dinner to meet her family. There are no children in her family yet, so they loved having our 2 year old son Diamond around. We all became good friends. At Melanie’s wedding, it was Diamond who walked her to the altar.

But the most special experience that my family and I have had with Melanie in our lives was when my wife gave birth to Bethany two months ago. I was really tired after working until late in the night and fell deep asleep. I woke up around 4 o’clock in the morning and my wife was experiencing labour pains. She was walking up and down counting the contractions. I didn’t get nervous and thought we would have some time to pack things and put the rubbish out because when Diamond was born it took a whole day. So I first rang a friend from church because it was early in the morning and I didn’t want to wake up Melanie. But I didn’t get any answer from the church friend.

Meanwhile my wife told me she was in too much pain so I had to ring Melanie and she said she was coming. Suddenly my wife screamed my name in desperation from the bathroom. I ran to see what was happening and the baby was nearly coming. I rang Melanie again and she was on her way, I told her that I could see the baby and she asked to ring the ambulance.

So, I rang the ambulance and they asked many questions. I was so nervous I couldn’t answer them, but luckily Melanie arrived soon after and followed their instructions. We took Htoo Bway to the bedroom and by the time the ambulance arrived, our baby Bethany was already born. I am settling well in Australia. Everyone who touches my life is very helpful to me. Not only my volunteers, but Melaleuca staff, the people in my community, the church, AMEP school, service providers and specially the government who gave us the Humanitarian Visa. Now I already know that the people here are good and helpful and I am doing my best to become a good citizen.

My Story by Lar Khu Jue

April 2009

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Message from the director’s deskWelcome to the 6th edition of Melaleuca Refugee Centre newsletter.

Again there have been many changes at Melaleuca. We have welcomed a new community, the Bhutanese (Nepali-speaking) families, who started to arrive in February this year and will bring more diversity and colour to our client group. You will find a couple of articles inside the newsletter to tell you more about this community.

We have further extended our counselling team so they can finally respond to their enormous workload. This means we will also be able to cover new ground such as working with families on parenting and family support.

Sadly we had to say good bye to Girma Seid, who had worked as a Case Coordinator for 4 years and will be greatly missed. We wish him all the best for his new adventures. Also Shirley Brown, one of our counsellors has left but we still expect her to work with us on a casual basis at times. Rebekah Rubensohn, Rachel Cecilio, Jamie Harvey, Omeima Mohammed and Anthea Burns have also moved to new horizons.

Within staff I would like to welcome:Jan Wetzel as Counsellor/Advocate Xavier Lane as Counsellor/Advocate Conor Fox as Settlement Support WorkerLeandro Mendez as Settlement Support Worker Nuala Scannel as casual Early Settlement Support WorkerAmbika Bhattarai as Settlement Support Worker/Emerging Communities Emma Cameron as ReceptionistJeannie O’Carroll as Communities Liaison Worker

Again some people moved side ways such as Cecilia Pewee moving into the Counselling Team and Esther Canmue moving from Housing into Case Coordination.

We also welcome Albert Adakpoku as temporary Youth Worker.I would like to thank everybody for their contribution to Melaleuca Refugee Centre.

This Issue Thank you very much to all those people who have made such valuable contributions to this edition of the Melaleuca newsletter. Editorial Team: Bonney Corbin Conor Fox Jackie Garbutt Juliana Lobo de Queiroz Sonya Schmidt Kylie Smith

**This is a community newsletter - the more you contribute, the better!**

The opinions expressed in this newsletter are of the contributers and do not reflect the views of Melaleuca Refugee Centre.

For comments or contributions please ring (08) 8985 3311 or email admin@melaleuca.org.au

Download a copy of this edition from www.melaleuca.org.au

Upcoming important dates...

May 11-17 National Volunteers Week

May 15 International Day of Families (National Families Week, May 10-16)

June 20 World Refugee Day

June 26 United Nations International Day In Support of Victims of Torture and Trauma

August 12 International Youth Day

If you would like to be involved in organising, performing or volunteering at events for any of these occassions, please contact Jeannie O’Carroll (Communities Liaison Worker) at Melaleuca on (08) 8985 3311.

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e Have you ever given a thought to how the little orange segments at a footy match are just always there for half time?

How a wasteland of rubbish after a festival is miraculously cleaned up? Or how people who have just arrived in a new country learn to orient themselves?

It is because a mother, father, friend, stranger, child or other person has offered the gift of their time to help out. Imagine Australia is a merry go round that relies on generosity to revolve. If it wasn’t for volunteers, the merry go round would grind to a sorry halt.

Ph (08) 89853311www.melaleuca.org.au

volunteering@melaleuca.org.au

VolunteeringMelaleuca

Queensland. In response to these disasters, 17 000 people registered their wish to assist. People from all different backgrounds, with varied skills but most importantly, an open and caring heart, gave their all in what were vast catastrophes for humans, other animals and their shared environment. This capacity for sharing assuaged the impact of each incident and continuing efforts will serve towards community healing.

From 11-17 May, volunteer efforts will be formally celebrated by communities around Australia. So, here’s to all those silent achievers – here, there and everywhere – who do so much in the name of social justice, from the depths of their hearts. Cheers!

Australia is a nation of givers. Each year one third of the population volunteers in some capacity. This equates to over 700 million hours of unpaid labour that contributes to the functioning of many important community services.

Take for example the devastating bushfires of Victoria and floods in northern

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My Sister’s Kitchen is open for any woman in Darwin. Especially, women who are from migrant and refugee background come and

participate in the program every Monday. Burmese, Bhutanese Nepalese, Congolese, Somali, Asian, and African women happily join together in the kitchen and cook several types of food, then share after cooking. Even though it is over a short period of time, we are getting to know each other very well, understand and love each other more while we are in preparing and cooking. The learning of others’ culture is important in making good friends. This opportunity can be grasped by participating in My Sister’s Kitchen.

We speak English to communicate because every one is from a different nationality, religion and language. It is good opportunity to practise English for those learning English as a second language. It is wonderful to share knowledge about the several names of traditional foods, different recipes, cooking methods, different systems of cooking attire, methods of meal preparing and matching meals.

As soon as we meet a new friend in the kitchen, we begin by introducing each other and sharing our own stories. We explain about traditional foods, and also food systems in religion ways. We are very happy and surprised when we find out a similar recipe or cooking method from someone of a different background. This makes us even more close friends. This means that the kitchen becomes a global village.

It is very exciting to think about cooking different food every week. We can learn multiple English phrases while we are together in My Sister’s Kitchen. It makes us develop good listening skills also gives us new words to learn every week. I hope the experience and knowledge from My Sister’s Kitchen will be very useful to our future.

Everyone who comes and resettles in a new country has difficulties and stresses. I am very happy and forget difficulties and stress while I am in the kitchen with friends. We are not only friends, but I realised that we love and accept each other as sisters. I deeply appreciate the valuable time I spend in My Sister’s kitchen.

On behalf of all sisters, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Darwin Community Arts and Melaleuca Refugee Centre who plan and support My Sister’s Kitchen.

My Sister’s Kitchen by Maw Maw (Translation by Mie Mie)

My sister’s kitchenMy sister’s kitchen အစအစဥက ႏငငအမားအျပားမေရႊ႕ေျပာငးအေျခခေနထငသေတြ စေပါငးပါ၀ငၾကတာျဖစပါတယ။ကယယဥေကးမႈ၊ကယရးရာ အစားအစာမားက စေပါငးခကျပတၾကျပး အတတကြစားသးၾကတာျဖစပါတယ။ဒအခနအတြငးခကျပတၾကရငးန႕ စကားေျပာၾကရလ႕တဥးန႕တဥးပမခစခငရငးႏးလာၾကရပါတယ။လမး ဘာသာစကား မတၾကလ႕အဂၤလပစကားကပ သးၾကရလ႕လ အဂၤလပစကားသငယေနၾကရတ႔ ကမတ႕အတြက အမားၾကးေလကငမႈရတယလ႕ထငပါတယ။ဒါအျပင ခကျပတပနညးစနစေတြကလညး ဖလယႏငၾကလ႕ အသပညာဗဟသတမား တးပြားေစခပါတယ။My sister’s kitchen က လာေရာကပးေပါငးတလမးေတြကေတာ ဆဒန၊ကြနဂ၊နေပါ၊ျမနမာန႕ ဆမားလးယားစသျဖင အာရ-အာဖရက ျဖစၾကပါတယ။ကးကြယၾကတဘာသာေတြ ကေတာ ဗဒၶဘာသာ၊ဟႏၵဘာသာ၊ ခရစယာနဘာသာ မြတဆလငဘာသာတ႕ျဖစပါတယ။ႏငငအမားအျပားမအသကၾကးေရႊ႕ေျပာငးအေျခခေနထငၾကေသာ မတကြျပားတ႕လမးအမားစ ေတြ႕ဆၾကရတ႕အတြက ကယရ႕ရးရာအစားအစာေတြခကျပတရာတြငခကျပတတ႕ အစားအစာအမညကကယဘာသာစကားအသးအႏႈနးေတြန႕ ေျပာျပၾကတ အတြက ႏငငအမားအျပားမ ဘာသာစကားမားလညး သရမတသားရပါတယ။ေနာကပါ၀ငတပ စၥညး၊ခကျပတနညး တြဖကစားပ အသပညာ ေတြဖလယၾကပါတယ။တေယာကန႕တေယာက မတဆကစကားမား ခကနညး ျပတနညးမား ေျပာရတ႕အတြကႏငငတကာသး အဂၤလပဘာသာစကားအသထြကမားန႕ကၽြမး၀ငခြငရရပါတယ။စကားလးအသစေတြ ေတ႕ြ ရတ အတြက ဗဟသတအသစေတြ တးပြားရပါတယ။တေယာကန႕တေယာက စကားမားမား ေျပာရတ အတြကရငႏးအကၽြမး၀ငမႈေတြရရပါတယ။ ရငးႏးအကၽြမး၀ငေနတအတြက ေသာကဖစးမႈမားကလညး မေ၀ခစားမႈေတြ ရရခရပါတယ။ တဥးရ႕ အခကအခက တဥးကသရရျပး ကညပပးမႈေတြ ရရရပါတယ။တေယာကန႕တေယာက ရငးရငးႏးႏး ခငခငမငမငစကားေတြေျပာၾကရတ အတြက စေပါငးလပကငတတတ ခြနအားေတြလညး ရရရပါတယ။တေယာကတညးေနရတ အထးကန စးရမထပလန႕ပပနတတေသာစတမား ပေျပာကမႈေတြလညး ရရရပါတယ။ႏငငအမားအျပားမအသကၾကးေရႊ႕ေျပာငးအေျခခေနထငသေတြစေပါငးေတ႕ြ ဆၾကတ my sister’s kitchen က လာျပးပေပါငးရတအတြက အလြနေပာစရာ ေကာငး ပါတယ။ my sister’s kitchen က သြားေရာကေတြ႕ဆရတ အခနေလးဟာအလြနတရာမ တနဘးရလျပး ၾကးမားလေသာ အႏစသာရမားရရရပါတယ။ ဒအစအစဥမးျဖစေျမာကေအာင ကညေဆာငရြကေပးၾကတ Melaleuca,Darwin Community Arts,Multicultural Council န႕ တျခားကညပပးသတ႕ကလညး အထးေကးဇးတငပါတယ။

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Boarding the plane to Christmas Island on charter flight with a whole entourage of DIAC (Department of Immigration and Citizenship) workers, Red Cross staff, Interpreters, carers for the

‘Unaccompanied Minors’, and Federal Police really brought home to me the fact that the services provided to asylum seekers is the islands’ fastest growing industry, particularly now as the local phosphate mine is slowing down due to the current economic crisis.

Christmas Island lies in the Indian Ocean, three and a half hours flight northwest from Perth. The majority of the population on the Island are ethnic Chinese, the next biggest group is Malay, and white Australians are the minority. Supplies come from Perth and Kuala Lumpur. The closest city is Jakarta. The shops look more like shops in South East Asia than a supermarket on mainland Australia. The local newsletter has every article printed in three languages, Cantonese, Malay and English. The exception being DIAC’s response to a growing anxiety of the local population about an increase of single males in community detention, and written only in English it provides little possibility for easing animosity.

My work on the island was to assess the emotional and psychological wellbeing of people in detention and people in community detention and to provide counselling and support to those who were not coping very well. This work was part of a national FASSTT project (Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma) where workers from all states are involved in the project. This also created the opportunity for agencies from the different states to work together to exchange ideas of best practice.

Most of the asylum seekers were Hazara people from Afghanistan, but also some Kurdish, and some Sri Lankan. I had prepared myself for people having major difficulties with the detention situation. While the brand ‘new state of the art’ detention centre is not ideal, it has facilities which any asylum seeker in the community can only dream of, such as a gym, soccer field, computer rooms, TV and ensuite bathrooms etc. What surprised me the most was detainees statement that this was the first time in their lives they have been treated with dignity and respect and that they felt well looked after. However, for some, the barbed wire and tight security restriction did have a negative effect on their emotional and psychological well being. While people were concerned about the uncertainty of their future until a decision about their refugee status had been made, proper process was followed and everybody had access to a lawyer. I would like to express my compliments to the DIAC staff who worked extraordinarily long hours to process claims at a high speed and were overall accessible and approachable. Areas for improvement in my opinion however were in the consultation of and communication efforts towards the local community.

The asylum seekers greatest concerns were about their families left behind, their safety and survival. All detainees had been given access to a phone to ring their families or access to Red Cross Tracing if the family’s whereabouts was unknown.

The influence and power of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan was the main and single reason why people left, in particular young males who are prime targets for being kidnapped, tortured and killed by the Taliban. Often their father and older brother had already been killed, these young men being the next on the execution list. Teenage boys subsequently become the head and bread winner of the family after the older males in the family have been killed. They leave their family, often, being urged on by their mothers who would not be able to bear the loss of another family member. All the hope of the family rests on these young men to provide safety and financial survival in the future. By the time they get to Australia, they might have endured more torture in Iran and/or in Turkey or been chased by the Taliban in Pakistan. The boats they have crossed the ocean on have not been sea worthy and some spent days bucketing water out of a sinking boat. Before the Australian Navy picked them up, many had accepted death as inevitable. People were also aware that one of the boats with about 28 people on it sank, with no survivors. So it is not surprising that people cherish the physical safety of the detention centre, which comes with regular food and medical care.

All together the experience was an eye opener to me as I have not worked so extensively with asylum seekers before.

However the question remains why asylum seekers are being processed on the island rather than the mainland, as it brings extra logistical challenges, is not cost effective, provides a feeling of isolation for the asylum seekers which can result in heightened anxiety and also has a huge impact on the local population.

In the latest development, another 66 people were successful in their visa application and are being transferred to the Australian mainland.

by Lava Kohaupt

A TROPICAL ISLAND WITH A DIFFERENCE - Providing support to asylum seekers on Christmas Island

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“Hi my name is Christina Tamba. I’m a typical cool Liberian girl. I participated in the swimming program with Melaleuca. The swimming was very fun and everyone had a good time swimming together. I like it because they were patient to teach me and were very friendly. They taught me how to float, save people’s lives and I also learned how to swim. The program was good the way it was and it doesn’t need anymore improvement. I enjoyed playing on the giant slide and they also gave us good food. Melaleuca is the best!!!”

“This is Gitta Mansaray and I’m Christina’s best friend. I am a year 10 student from Darwin High. On the first day, we ate pizza. I really like the food but I didn’t like the pizza so much. They told us about First Aid and we had a lots of practice. Thank you Melaleuca for your program.”

Youth In Action!

Swimming Program, January 2009

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Harmony Day in Australia is a day to recognise and celebrate the cultural, religious and linguistic diversity that exists within our vibrant community. It is a day of awareness-raising and

based on the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In line with this theme, Darwin Community Arts, the Multicultural Council of the NT, Melaleuca Refugee Centre, YWCA, Neighbourhood Watch, Early Childhood Australia NT Branch and many other community organisations held a series of successful community events in Malak on the weekend of Friday March 20 to Sunday 22.

Activities included an event for parents with babies 0 to 5 years, youth-focused events, cultural performances, art installations, soccer matches, live music, film screenings, workshops, food sampling and informative displays from numerous government and non-government organisations.

Sunday’s event in Malak Park was dedicated in memory of the late Tony Fitzgerald, a prominent figure who has always held a strong stance in advocating for human rights. Acting Commissioner of the NT Anti-Discrimination Commission, Lisa Coffey, delivered a heartfelt speech entailing stories of Tony’s passionate, fearless and outspoken character as well as his strong belief that the elimination of discrimination is a prime goal of the commission.

At the end of the day, each and every one of us hold the responsibility for ensuring our community is one free of discrimination.

Same Same, But Different

Remembering Our Savanna13 May 1982 - 1 May 2008

“I remember Savanna because of her laugh and her beautiful smile, I never saw her angry. If she was alive again, I would give a hug to her. I miss her because she’s not alive anymore. I wish she was here with us doing what she was doing before.” Faidah

“Savanna would bring people together and make people friendly. If Savanna was driving, everybody was happy and many people would come.” Jennifer.

“I remember Savanna because she always made me happy, she was very friendly, she was like my sister. I miss her so much, and I miss looking into her beautiful eyes. She was always helpful if I had a problem. I pray for her where ever she is, she will always be happy – the way she used to be. We will always love her and never forget her.” Joyce.

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Handy Tips Page

Have you considered how far your ‘fresh’ foods have travelled before you eat them? There is much joy to be had in raising your own foods from seed –

yes, in your own garden, or outdoor space! Darwin’s Dry season is the perfect time to start growing your own favourite vegetables, either directly in garden soil, or in pots.

If your space is restricted, try to get a hold of some Styrofoam boxes. Poke some small drainage holes through the bottom with a screwdriver, then fill these with a mix of garden soil and potting mix. A ready made planting bed!Or if you have more space, consider making some raised garden beds. Find a level space which gets plenty of sun and is easy to access. Then create a raised space, using logs or other materials as the perimeter. In layers, place down newspaper three layers thick, then some hay, followed by compost, then hay, then compost and hay once more. Be generous with the compost!

Now for the seeds! The best way to gain seeds is by word of mouth. Neighbours, friends and community members may have saved seeds from harvests that have been very successful. Otherwise you may purchase seeds at the local hardware store or nursery or on the internet with special growing groups. Heirloom seeds are best, as you can save them and re-use each year – these are seeds that have not been genetically-modified.

Some crops that perform really well during the Dry are: okra, tomato, corn, maize, amaranth, eggplant, chinese cabbages, zucchini, cucumber, rocket, herbs, beans, watermelons, rockmelons and pumpkins. You can even grow lettuces.

Have some fun with your garden and share ideas with friends and neighbours. You will be surprised how much you can grow in a small space in our tropical climate – before you know it, friends will be asking you how it all happened! w Happy gardening!

Melaleuca Refugee Centre staff know that families of refugee backgrounds come to Australia with amazing strengths. We work to build on these

strengths and support families build new lives between cultures. We provide individual, group support and referrals to other services that support families.

What do you think that parents do in families that work well?

Some others parents have said:

Have fun, make mistakes and get over them.Feel close to children despite difficulties and disagreements.Are not rigid and controlling of other family members.Talk to children and ask them their opinions but in the end they decide.Work as a team.Accept that everyone is not perfect.Allow their children to be different.Praise one another a lot.Know how to argue- but can talk about their differences rather than hiding them.Have family celebrations.Have strong beliefs that help them cope with change.Have other adults outside the family that take an interest in the children.

What do you do as a parent that you know works well? …………tomorrow do it more!

*Adapted from Parenting Between Cultures, by Marymead Child and Family Centre.

Green Foodsby Xavier Lane-Mullins

by Bonita MossStrong Families That Work Well

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Obama Victory and Inauguration Ceremony

We would like to personally thank Zeenat Alibi who organized sponsorship to the tune of $500 for the event. We would also like to thank Fatuma Ali, Georgette Mofalesi, The Progressive Liberian Women’s Organization, and Rebecca for catering for this event. AAFA would like to thank everyone who came to support the Obama Victory and Inauguration celebration on Saturday 24th Jan 09. We’d also like to inform you that we raised $508.28. These funds will go a long way towards community development programmes to assist African migrant youth and refugees in settling into our NT community.

When we set about organizing this event we held a BBQ at Jingili Gardens to plan how we could hold something significant to inspire the youth using Obama as an example and a role model, because of his African heritage. This was a great opportunity to rally African youth and mobilize them to pursue excellence in their various endeavours in life, be it in education, sport or any other social and cultural activities.

The organizing committee held several meetings at which all sectors of the African community were represented to plan an event were the youth could showcase their talents and express their own ideas about their future. After several meetings and workshops, the format and date of the function was agreed, and many volunteers and supporters set about organizing various aspects of the event. The commitment and dedication of these individuals was very commendable. The willingness of the many volunteers who cooked, prepared the hall and performed various organizational tasks was very encouraging. They spent many hours toiling to make this programme a success for the youth.

We are pleased to say that the function was a great success and the turn out well beyond all expectations. The performances by African Dancerz, Abdullah (Michael Jackson) were absolutely brilliant, and had the crowd shrieking and chatting for more. Security guards were provided by Salah Protective Services, to ensure the safety and security of the audience, but thankfully the crowd was very well behaved and the event went without incidence. There was a great mix in the audience in terms of cultural background, age and sex. Most of all, we thank the organizing committee for their hard work in making this event the success that it was.

The youth need support and guidance. We must set the best examples that we can to them. We must support them in whatever way we can. Obama’s victory in the US presidential elections is evidence that race is no obstacle to achievement, in a free and democratic society. It depends on the effort of the individual. One of the main reasons for holding this activity is because Barack Obama is a great role model for the youth in that he has demonstrated that anything is possible for those who are prepared to work hard to achieve their goals. We say to the youth that, “You must have dreams, but dreams alone are not enough. You must supplement your dreams with hard work. Don’t be discouraged by people who try to make you feel inferior. Listen to positive voices.” We remind the Africa youth that you have the opportunities here that you were denied where you came from. It is up to you.” Take up the opportunities that lie before you and strive to achieve your dreams. If you need our support it is available to you.

by Fezile Mpehle

The election of Barack Obama as US president was an historic event, of significance to all peoples of African descent whether they

reside in Africa or abroad. The Africa Australia Friendship Association, the Sudanese Australian Association, the Congolese Australian Association, The Liberian Association, The Somali Association and others came

together to organize this occasion to recognize this historic occasion. Barack Obama’s slogan “Yes, we can”, has

resonated throughout the world in all nations, large and small.

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Nobody would expect that a human being should have to face three different lives in a single lifetime span. But this is the fact of my

life experience, in which my birth was in Bhutan; my teenage years and student life were spent as a refugee in Eastern Nepal; and now I have resettled in Australia as an immigrant.

I was born on 1st of January 1977 in a small village in the southern part of Bhutan. My forefathers were also migrants from Limalayan Kingdom (Nepal), since the 18th century. According to my parents, there was enough land and other resources to meet basic needs such as health, education, communication, legal law, customs and traditions. But all of us southern Bhutanese (Nepalese origin) were and still are deprived of rights, responsibilities and equality. We have become victims of this crime, but

raised our voices against the new law and autocratic monarchism. Due to this, in 1990 the Bhutanese government made plans to eradicate more and more Nepalese ethnic people from the land of Bhutan. By the way, we were forcefully exiled and took asylum in Nepal for 18 years.

Refugee life in Nepal was too miserable and helpless under the small hut made up of bamboo on poor facilities provided by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Despite this, I continued my studies from primary level to graduation. I didn’t get a chance to advance to technical studies due to financial difficulties and other circumstances.

In the course of my refugee life, I made many attempts to go back to Bhutan, but failed. At the end of the 16th anniversary day of our refugee life, some of the countries like USA, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway and Canada showed their willingness to take more and more Bhutanese refugees as humanitarian settlers. I had studied a lot about these proposals and decided to proceed for Australia in the end. My process began at the end of 2007 and I reached Darwin on the 4th of February this year.

It was the first long journey by airplane in my life. Presently I live in Malak and I am being looked after by Melaleuca and Centrelink. I didn’t think this could happen in my life. I came to know that Australia is 90% better than our previous residence of Bhutan and Nepal. It is socially, politically, economically and culturally modernised. People are so helpful, kind and sincere. It is easy to communicate with them because almost all people seem to be literate. English is the commonly spoken language. In addition, Darwin is climatically hot, but it is a tourist attraction. Everyone likes to visit here.

So, being a permanent resident of Australia, I am looking forward to a fruitful and enjoyable life here for my future days to come.

My Life in Bhutan, Nepal and in Australiaby Ganga Ram Adhikari

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Living in a country that is not yet yours could be very difficult as you have to start from the very beginning and help is required even to fulfil the very basic

requirement. Getting help at the right time and place makes your life lot easier too. This is what I realise when I first came to a different country and even an entirely different continent with a different language. It is really hard to adjust and the first

week you arrive there is the worst part of everything.We received information that a group of people staying in Nepal as Bhutanese refugees were coming to Darwin and we instantly hope that could we be a bit of help to them. Time went by and the time they were coming came close. We planned to do the shopping for a week, prepare the meal for them for the coming day and to go to airport to pick them up. We with the Melaleuca volunteers went for shopping keeping in mind that a food what they are so used to would mean a heartily welcome to them. I along with my other friends prepared the meal for them the night before they came as they are arriving the next morning at 0400 Hrs. It was fun and we tried our best to do the shopping for a week at least so that it would be easy for them.

We tried our best to make the dinner as lovely as it possibly could be. Whole time was a lot of fun we were really excited to meet all of them from the beginning and as the time came closer the excitement increased. Unfortunately I could not go to the airport as I had to go to work the next morning. My other friends along with my husband went to airport at 4 AM in the morning to receive them.

That afternoon we, probably 8/10 of us Nepali people, went to visit them. It was nice to meet them and they were glad too. The next day all of us again went there and took them for a drive to Jetty in Nightcliff just to make them bit familiar with the area and to get them out of home for a fresh air. The coming Sunday we took them for a shopping along with

Melaleuca volunteers to the place where we generally go for shopping so that they can buy food similar to what we are used to. As a whole it was fun and entirely a different experience putting ourselves in their shoes.

We really got close to each other in short period. They were really glad too to meet people who speak the same language, share same culture and are also trying to adjust themselves in the same way, it just makes it a lot more easier.

Welcome To Darwin

by Shanti Chhetri (Sushma)In the photo: Guna Kumar Majhi (white jumper) is welcomed at the airport

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Community Noticeboard

The MCNT is the peak body dedicated to advocacy and representing the interests, concerns and aspirations of migrants and refugees from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds in the Northern Territory. The Settlement Grants Project (SGP)The Multicultural Solutions Project Multicultural Youth of the Northern Territory (MyNT)The Happy Migrant Learning Centre Migration Advice ClinicTax Help ClinicAdult Migrant English Program (AMEP) ClassesTop End Women’s Legal Service (TEWLS)MCNT Community RoomMCNT Resources

Contact Details:Address: Shop 15, Malak Shopping Centre, Malak Crescent, Malak, NT 0812Phone: (08) 8945 9122 Email: admin@mcnt.org.au Website: www.mcnt.org.au

Relationships Australia NT offers specialist relationship counselling for individuals, couples, families and children, general counselling, family dispute resolution (mediation), relationship education, programs for men and professional training and supervision.

Darwin Phone: (08) 8923 4999Fax: (08) 8981 6190Email: reception@ra-nt.org.au

NORTHERN TERRITORY

SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE MULTICULTURAL COUNCIL

OF THE NT INC

Darwin Community Arts enriches and inspires Darwin by facilitating arts and cultural development that reflects and celebrates our communities’ diversity and creativity. We do this by:

- Advocating for and supporting emerging and multi-arts projects;

- Empowering artists and communities and facilitating connections between them;

- Providing opportunities and spaces that enable skill sharing, experimentation and the development of excellence

For further information see: www.darwincommunityarts.org.au

or call 08 8945 7347

Free & confidential legal advice for:- Immigration law- Family law- Domestic violence- Mental Health- Civil law- Criminal law

Free legal information, assistance and referral is availableby calling 1800 019 343Website: www.ntlac.nt.gov.auEmail: info@ntlac.nt.gov.au

Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission