Success Stories
Minding each other’s business …
Hawa and ChristineHawa Tucker came to Australia from Sierra Leone in West Africa where she had been working as a book-keeper. Once in Sydney, her days were full caring for her children. Although her youngest is still at home, Hawa is now preparing for her re-entry into the workforce. She is also keen to improve her English proficiency and is studying MYOB.
Christine Hopkins is a TESOL teacher at TAFE and is herself a migrant from Kenya many years ago. She is naturally good at negotiating cultural differences and understands well the need to build language skills to have greater opportunities and quality of life. Hawa and Christine have regular meetings at Marrickville Library where they spend a couple of hours on MYOB and English Language study and cover a range of ideas including Australian workplace culture. Minding each other’s business we hope will yield great benefits for both.
Food for thought..
Mithena, Ruby and MelissaMithena, a Tamil from Sri Lanka, came to Australia in late 2008 with her son and was granted a protection visa. Though Mithena had been a teacher in her home country and was now cleaning, when she contacted Ruby, the Refugee Mentoring Project Coordinator, her dream was to cook the home-style food she had grown up with and let her new neighbours and fellow Aussies taste it.
Small parties and catering for Christmas celebrations at the church got Mithena started and pretty soon she built a reputation for herself. At this time Mithena needed two main sources of support from the Refugee Mentoring Program (RMP).
Melissa Cook McEvedy, an English teacher at Cleveland Street Intensive English Centre volunteered to provide one on one English tutoring to Mithena, specifically in the area of customer service.
Ruby Madan, RMP Coordinator, had operated a café some years prior and was well placed to provide business advice. According to Ruby, ‘Every entrepreneur should have a mentor, someone who’s been down that road and can share their insight on an ongoing basis. Mithena has shown great determination and through her hard work and enterprise will make a significant contribution to the cultural and economic life of Australia’.
Mithena has realised her dream and has just opened a family run Sri Lankan restaurant, Mithu’s, 105 The Crescent, Homebush West, ph: 9764 6450.
Freehills on the case
Amadu, Adam and AlistairAmadu Bangura from Sierra Leone, an aspiring lawyer, is mentored by Alistair Carmichael and Adam Jeffrey, two of the legal team at Freehills, one of the largest and most respected law firms in Australia.
Alistair speaks of the learning which can accrue for mentor and mentee alike: “through the mentoring program I have had the opportunity, and indeed the privilege, of getting to know a truly inspired individual, an individual whose commitment to the community in general, and in particular people from his homeland adjusting to life in Sydney, is an example to us all”.
Adam says “the program has been a great opportunity for me to interact with the refugee community in a small but important way. It has been gratifying to see Amadu mature and develop new skills and ideas. It has also been interesting to learn about Amadu’s difficult background and the obstacles he has had to overcome to get to this point”.
Amadu continues to meet with the Freehills team and looks forward to a bright future. “I successfully clinched a job in my area of specialty at the Macarthur Legal Centre. This would not have happened without the Refugee Mentoring Program”.
RMP Volunteer Wins Award
Vera wins an awardTwo Refugee Mentoring Project mentors were recognised with awards from Liverpool Volunteer Network for their outstanding volunteer work on Friday 19th March at Mounties Club.
Pictured is Vera Palockovic (in green) with the Mayor of Liverpool. Vera mentored Hiba, a young woman from Iraq assisting her to commence an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science at UTS this semester.
Vera is an employee at Fairfield Council and a part time TAFE Adult Basic Education teacher. Vera was therefore able to help Hiba prepare for her IELTS English language test, the passing of which is a pre- requisite to University entry for NESB students. The second award winner requested anonymity.
The Refugee Mentoring Project would be impossible without volunteer mentors, who make a huge contribution to the community. We aim to have 70 volunteer mentors matched with mentees in 2010. Vera volunteered to mentor another refugee mentee in 2010.
Lamin gets back on track
Lamin, David and the young athletesLamin Tucker a former Olympian from Sierra Leone had worked as a cleaner and had a casual job as a nightclub security guard when he was matched up with David Carboni as his mentor.
Lamin said he was feeling lost and unsure of what step to take next. He needed financial security to support his young family – his wife Hawa and children had been in a refugee camp in Guinea and only recently been granted their visas to Australia to join him.
David has three active boys and through the network of the parents’ community he comes into regular contact with, set up athletic coaching clinics led by Lamin and himself as the assistant on Saturdays. They proved to be so popular that the numbers of participants have since doubled.
One little girl, Tori, is so keen to be trained by Lamin, that she and her mother travel every week from Croydon to Petersham. Some of the boys were also successful in securing positions in the NSW Premier Youth Soccer league.
David, motivated by the result they had achieved so far and the enthusiasm that Lamin generates amongst the young athletes continued his lobbying. He approached the head coach at Trinity Grammar School, Andrew Murphy who has created the Emerging Athletes Programme.
Happily, Lamin has been offered a position as an External Coach in the program.
David sees this partnership as rewarding for him too. “Instead of differences being a barrier to communication, my family and I have been enriched by meeting Lamin and his family, and getting to learn about their culture, customs and sometimes very difficult life experience.
“It is challenging to settle into a new country, but in my experience, it is achievable with opportunities and mutual regard. Lamin has been welcomed into the weekend running clinic by parents and teachers and is greatly respected by the students.”
