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Celebrations through Latin Culture THE LATIN AMERICAN COMMUNITY OF QUEENSLAND HAS A DIVERSE CULTURE WITH OVER 10

DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES THEY ALL EXPLODE WITH COLOUR AND PASSION FOR LIFE.

Dear member and friends of LACA

Our mission is to provide a social and cultural platform for Latin Americans in Queensland and to celebrate and share our cultures with various communities in Australia.

With this in mind, this year we have dedicated ourselves to build a solid foundation for this community organization.

LACA has worked accessing relevant opportunities to our social mission that, can raise the

profile of the Latin American community in Queensland and increase Latino participation and support the social welfare of our communities.

It is for this reason that we would like to appeal to all who can work with the community to get in touch with us and join efforts in our social mission. This is the second newsletter we send to our members. Through this medium we would like to start a dialogue with you, please send us your comments and suggestions to info@lacaqld.org.au.

Thank you for supporting your community!

LACA Mannagement Committee 2015 (Rosario Pineda, Sergio Blanco, Patricia Alonso, Claudina Rodriguez, Amabilia Reyes, Maria Sanchez, Aida Villatororo, Pablo Matus)

December 2015

LATIN AMERICAN COMMUNITY OF AUSTRALIA (QLD) • LACA(QLD) •

Season

Greetings

from the

LACA Team

2

L

AC

A (

QL

D) Latinos

showing

their full

colours

BRISBANE FIESTA LATINA 2015 A HUGE SUCCES

BRISBANE FIESTA LATINA 2015 A HUGE SUCCES

HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT COMMUNITY?

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Message from the President LACA - 2015 Claudina Rodriguez

LACA(QLD) is not an organization with an individual’s vision or personality. The principle of LACA(QLD) is embedded in co-orporation and representation of all the different goals of its members and volunteers who reflect the different make-up of the Latin American community in QLD.

If I reflect in the last 12 months, there has been no exception to this principle of collaboration of many individuals who thrown in their time, blood, tears and lots of joy to the work that LACA does and who believe in the LACA’s vision to celebrate and share Latin American culture. However, it is true to say we have encountered ‘non-believers’ along the way but this is life and a reflection of the different personalities that you will find in community!

The cooperation of individuals has helped us to continue and start some of the following projects:

Office space in the city- we have an office at 150 Adelaide St, City. We thank Aleyda Perez from Wellbeing for Communities for their generous collaboration and commitment. We have also received a printer from Atilio Garcia Prieto- my experience has been that many people promise a lot of things with words but then there are those who deliver!

Community Visitor Scheme has connected people

isolated in their home with Spanish speaking volunteers and I am always moved by the

generosity of individuals who think of others. I would like to thank Monica Bastias, Amabilia Reyes, Wuilo Allemand, Patricia Alonso. I would also urge you that if you know anyone who could benefit from some friendly company over a cup of coffee or who has some spare time to visit, please let us know via email info@lacaqld.org.au or call 0400378959.

Moorooka Social Group- this group has definitely cemented friendships and it is a great joy to see many make the journey to Moorooka to learn information regarding services in the community and enjoy the company of others in art classes, dancing or sharing friendship over a plate of food. This group put a huge effort with the decoration of the community altar for Fiesta Latina 2015 and is always looking after each other.

Brisbane Fiesta Latina had a great attendance once again and it’s produced entirely through the generosity of volunteers, individuals and organisations who support the idea that diversity and harmony is a most powerful vehicle for people to get along in community. Although, there was great elation and pride in this year festival, there was also great disappointment as one of our major sponsors did not come through with their sponsorship promise and left us with a $3000 abyss! We cover all our costs of infrastructure and performances and the experience has left us wiser for next year’s festival. We would like thank our sponsors Brisbane City Council, West End Community Association, Viana Lawyers and QLD

State government for their generosity.

Fiesta

Latina had

a great

attendance

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We continue to support and work together with different community groups and projects including supporting Brisbane Mexican Festival, West End Community Association (WECA), Guatemalan Mayan Cultural House in Australia, ‘El Taller- Men’s Shed, Wondering Cooks, Diversicare, Amparo and Carers QLD.

As a community organization, we are often invited or introduced to great opportunities and this is the case for 2 projects that we are supporting:

Men’s Shed ‘El Taller’ is an initiative to support Spanish speaking in their health and wellbeing and at the same time to keep active and learn new things related to skills in carpentry and other trades and share this knowledge with others. This project has been coordinated by Luis Sanchez (mob: 0434849860; E: sanluisgui@hotmail.com) and the group kindly created the community altar for Fiesta Latina 2015.

Spanish speaking age care facility project got its legs after Mercedes Sepulveda and myself met at an Age Care Approvals Round (ACAR) Forum organized by Diversicare (PICAC) in January 2015 to assist community groups from different cultures in establishing age care in their community. LACA invited 29 groups from the Spanish speaking community to discuss the project- our first meeting in

June resulted in 40% of those invited assisted , 30% sent their apologies and the other 30% did not communicate. However, out of the 70% of the groups that replied, we have formed a committee of individuals that are committed and passionate in delivering the project to have 12 residential beds of high care and independent living apartments in July 2016 in partnership with an established age care facility Prins Willem Alexander Village at Birkdale. I am grateful to Mercedes Sepulveda, Carolina Castro, Thica Santos (Latin American Catholic Community in the Archiodioce of Brisbane) , Rafael Pacheco (Hispanicamerican Cultural group), Aleyda Perez (Wellbeing for Communities), Luis Guillermo Sanchez (El Taller- Men’s Shed), Rosario Pineda (LACA) for their commitment.

LACAQLD was created with the vision to bring together and celebrate Latin American culture. That is why we encourage the possibility that the various existing Latin American groups in Queensland work together as a community to strengthen and develop our capacity to reach higher goals. The age care project for our elders is just one example of the things we can achieve together. I am humbled by the generosity of time and commitment in the face of conflicting priorities of the current and past committee members Amabilia Reyes, Pablo Matus, Rosario Pineda, Maria Sanchez,

Aida Villatoro and Patricia Alonso. I thank you all from the heart.

LACA (QLD) understand the diversity among the members of the many Latin American cultures, however, believes that we can work together as has been demonstrated in more diverse communities such as the African community (e.g, Queensland African Communities Council).

When we invited all the community groups- we wanted to discuss two topics- age care facility was one and working together as a community was the other. We have not had the opportunity to pursue this second topic more elaborately but I would like to make the invitation that LACA’s door is always open- be part of LACA management committee or if you have project as a group or an individual to work together and we can support you in any way, please let’s have a coffee together and explore where the opportunity could take us as a vibrant and energetic community!

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Many Reasons to Celebrate Diversity

Brisbane Fiesta Latina 2015

…was celebrated on October 31st in West End,

Russell Street with the theme of "Day of the

Dead”.

.

More than 6,000 people attended the event,

making the largest and most successful Latin

event in Brisbane thanks to the collaboration

of volunteers, LACA committee and the

community that participated at the festival.

.

There were more than 20 stalls from several

Latin American countries as well as delicious

food, handmade crafts and local community

information services.

Join the team of Fiesta Latina 2016. You can

support your community, make friends and have

fun. Just write to info@lacaqld.org.au and be

part of our great team

Fiesta

Latina “On

Parade”

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First & Third Thursday of the Month

Crafts

Drawing and Art classes

Spanish speaking social group

Moorooka Community Centre Hall

40 Gainsborough St, Moorroka

For more information for 2016, please contact us at info@lacaqld.org.au or

Call 0400 378 959

Remember to follow us on Facebook | LACA-QLD for more information

Community Visitor Program:

Home Support for our Spanish Speaking Elders

Let’s get

together!

Social support program for the Spanish speaking

community where a Spanish speaking volunteer

visits elderly Spanish speakers at home for a chat

and friendship. We cover the areas of Brisbane

South and Gold Coast.

For more information–

E: info@lacaqld.org.au or visit our pages: W:

www.lacaqld.org.au or Facebook: laca-qld

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LACA MEMMBERSHIP 2016

Become a member and be part of a great cultural group and support community.

Send an email to info@lacaqld.org.au with the following details

Name:__________________________________________________________

Address:_________________________________________________________

Marital status: ___________ Post Code: __________

Telephone: ___________________

Email:_______________________________________________

Or print form and send to:

LATIN AMERICAN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION PO BOX 5812

WEST END QLD

Membership fees:

Individual $10 ( ) | Organisation $50 ( ) | Concession (Students, pensioners, unemployment) $5 ( )

Signature: ________________________________ Date: __________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Office use only (LACA)

Amount received: $ ______________ Name :_________________

Date: _______________

Signed:

Join Today!