THE MULTICULTURAL MONITOR - SquarespaceIssues+70+Final.pdf · MARSS Eid Celebrations 19-20 ......
Transcript of THE MULTICULTURAL MONITOR - SquarespaceIssues+70+Final.pdf · MARSS Eid Celebrations 19-20 ......
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Issue 60, January 2011
THE MULTICULTURAL
MONITOR
Issue 70, September 2015
MONITOR
Migrant and Refugee Settlement
Services of the ACT Inc.
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Contents
Board Members
Dewani Bakkum Chief Executive Officer Meron Reda Receptionist/Administration Niran Karaeni Administration Officer Humanitarian Settlement Services (HSS) Sandra Elhew HSS Team Leader Andrew Kazar Accommodation Officer Trish Parshu Ram HSS Case Manager Annabel Spry HSS Caseworker Hashimat Mir HSS Caseworker (Casual) Settlement Grants Program (SGP) Shani Fernando SGP Team Leader Fiona Eskandarinezhad SGP Caseworker Tamara Chafee SGP Caseworker Engy Abdelsalam SGP Caseworker Community Development Officer (CDP) Chris Jones Driving Coordinator Zoe Burns CDP Officer Brady McMullen Sports, PASS, HTP Lynne Johnson Arts and Craft Coordinator
Raewyn Bastion Chair
Nim Osborne Treasurer
Andrew Alwast Secretary
David Ng Public Officer
Borhan Uddin Ahmed Board Member
Khawar Saleem Board Member
Simon Kwan Kit Ng Board Member
Juan de la Torre Board Member
1
MARSS staff members
In this Issue
Message from the CEO 2
HSS & White Ribbon Training 3-4
MARSS Information Sessions 5-6
Arts and Crafts Group Launch 7-8
CDP Sports 9-10
CDP Driving & Computer Classes 11-12
Canberra Welcomes Refugees 13-14
Mapping Our Journeys 15-16
Department of Employment Fundraiser 17
UNHCR Conference 18
MARSS Eid Celebrations 19-20
MARSS Upcoming Events 21
Service Details 22
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I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your ongoing support and share with you some of our major events over the past few months. Throughout June, the Multicultural Centre was vibrantly decorated by the art exhi-bition Mapping Our Journeys: Celebrating Our Diversity. The exhibition displayed a collection of art gathered from the ACT’s multicultural community and featured a variety of artistic mediums including painting, clothing, crafts, textiles and jewellery which celebrated diverse multi-culturalism and the migrant and refugee’s artistic contribution to the community. Walking around the exhibition, each artwork told their individual story of tradition and culture but also conveyed a strong sentiment of migration. Mapping our Journeys’ encouraged self-reflection and allowed the viewer to broaden their understanding of their own culture and community and that of others. We thank the Department of Social Services for funding this successful event. During National Refugee Week, MARSS launched its Art and Craft workshop at Waramanga. MARSS has been running an Arts and Crafts group for migrant and refugee women for over 5 years. This group is a women’s-only group that encourages an environment for women to meet and create a female support-network in Canberra. It has been such a great success that we moved the group to Waramanga in order to expand the group and welcome more women, with Minister Yvette Berry officially launching the new workspace. The theme for this year’s Refugee Week was With Courage Let Us All Combine and exhibiting the beautifully diverse arts, crafts and garments made during the Arts and Crafts group was an excel-lent way to celebrate. The Launch also saw a ‘Welcome to Country’ smoke ceremony conducted by Greg Chatfield, a live musical performances by Charles Koker from Sierra Leone and many speeches by former refugees, and of course the event concluded with a beautiful spread of food from around the world. On the 22
nd June, I also had the pleasure of chairing the Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA)
ACT State Consultation hosted by MARSS. SCOA is the national peak body representing migrant and refugee settlement agencies across Australia and holds annual consultations to discuss issues facing the settlement sector. The consultation was extremely successful and highlighted service providers’ dedication to improving settlement outcomes for migrants and refugees in the ACT. In July this year, I attended the UNHCR Annual Tripartite Consultation on Resettlement (ATCR) on behalf of the Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA) in Geneva, Switzerland. This is an annual event that provides an important forum for dialogue between governments, NGO’s and UNHCR in the area of resettlement. The consultation strives to produce outcomes through creating coherent and collaborative approaches to enhance global resettlement delivery and to address a wide range of policy and procedural matters, advocacy, capacity building, and operational support. It was a very enriching experience to meet delegates from other countries and to learn their different strate-gies when combatting refugee and migrant settlement issues.
I look forward to keeping you updated with future MARSS events and I hope to see you at the next
event!
- Dewani Bakkum, CEO
Message from the CEO
Message from the CEO
2
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Humanitarian Settlement Services
Overview
The Humanitarian Settlement
Services (HSS) program delivers initial,
intensive settlement support to
humanitarian clients upon first arriving in
Australia. The program aims to assist
eligible clients to settle successfully in
Australia, participate effectively in the
Australian way of life and access services
available to the broader public. Services
available through HSS are designed to
equip clients with the skills and knowledge
they need to commence a new life in
Australia.
Want to help?
Do you own a property? Would you like to have
guaranteed tenants and guaranteed bond? The
opportunity now exists for those who have an al-
truistic nature and a sense of social justice to
make a positive difference through their residen-
tial property investment. If you are one of the
landlords in Canberra who believe that making
money and helping others are not mutually exclu-
sive concepts, and would like more information on
how to assist, please email [email protected].
3
Volunteer Training for HSS
The HSS team was proud to recently
run a special volunteer training ses-
sion for newly inducted volunteers
with the HSS program. The unique
demands of working within the HSS
environment means that volunteers
need to be specially prepared and
trained in regards to the needs and
types of clients they will be dealing
with. The training was conducted by
MARSS staff members from the HSS
Team who were able to speak at
length about what was required and
expected of volunteers with the HSS
team, as well as the situations
they’ll be dealing with on a regular
basis. The event was highly success-
ful and has helped bolster the HSS
volunteering teams ranks.
HSS team member Shani with volunteer
training attendees
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White Ribbon Training
4
Want to help? On the 29th of May MARSS hosted a
training workshop for culturally and lin-guistically diverse men on preventing
gender-based violence in their communi-ties. The training was conducted by White Ribbon Australia, was supported
by the Settlement Council of Australia and was hosted by the Migrant and Ref-ugee Settlement Services of the ACT in
association with The Migrant Resource
Centre of South Australia.
White Ribbon is an organisation which
aims to eliminate violence against wom-en by encouraging culture-change around the matter. The workshop pro-
moted the importance of involving men in discussions surrounding gender-
based violence prevention, increased the attendees’ ability to take action and work as allies against gender-based violence
and took steps to strengthen ties be-tween communities by creating a multi-cultural men’s network for positive role-
modelling.
Maria Dimopoulos, an expert on gender equality and violence against women in
culturally diverse communities hosted the training. Maria is internationally rec-ognised for her work and, in 2008 she
was appointed to the Commonwealth government National Council to Reduce
Violence Against Women and their Chil-dren. We were lucky to have such a well-recognised and influential speaker to
lead the day’s discussion!
The day was attended by 18 members of
the migrant and refugee community in
Canberra and was interesting and in-
formative way to begin and continue dis-
cussions surrounding gender-based vio-
lence in our communities. Congratula-
tions and thank you to all those who at-
tended.
A member of the AFP talking to attendees
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Volunteering Information Night
5
On Wednesday the 24th of June, MARSS hosted an
information night for volunteers to help inform them
about the various programs that MARSS runs
throughout the organization, and the roles and op-
portunities for people interested in volunteering in
each program. The presentation was given by Zoe
Burns from the Community Development Program,
and had speakers Sandra Elhelw from the Humani-
tarian Settlement Services, Alexei Dettman from the
Program for After School Studies and Home Tutor
Program, and Fiona Eskandarinezhad.
The night was a very unique chance for attendees to
hear from each program co-ordinator directly about
their role and their program, as well as ask any
questions they had about volunteering with MARSS
and its programs directly to the most appropriate
parties. MARSS was happy to welcome many new
volunteers into its programs with a large turnout of
attendees, with the majority wanting to volunteer af-
ter the presentation. We’d like to thank all attendees
and presenters!
Attendees were given the opportunity to
talk to staff from all of MARSS’ programs MARSS was happy to receive a huge num-
ber of new volunteer applications immedi-
ately following the presentation
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Settlement Grants Program
Information Sessions
Housing and Emergency Services
The SGP team recently held an infor-
mation session for clients on the 5th of
June, 2015 on Housing and Emergency
Services. The session was designed to
help relatively recent arrivals and new
Canberrans who were SGP clients to un-
derstand and appreciate the role of vari-
ous emergency services departments in
the ACT, as well as to understand ACT
Public housing, private rental options,
and the various agencies that can assist
clients to find accommodation. The SGP
team was very pleased with the high turn
out and the wealth of questions being
asked!
Cross Cultural Information Session
On the 26th of June, the SGP team held a Cross Cultural Information Session for Profes-
sionals. The session brought together a variety of participants from different community
services in Canberra including health care services, social services and employment agen-
cies. These agencies work with various clients from different cultural and linguistic back-
grounds and are seeking cultural insight so they can best service their clients.
Presenters included community leaders such as Charles Koker from the Sierra Leone Com-
munity, Site Taw from the Australia Mon Association, Anisa Hamed Faryabi from the Af-
ghan Community and Gattuak Guagave from the South Sudanese community. They shared
great cultural insight to the evening resenting on their cultural specific norms and values
from their communities and provided practical advice to professionals to best service their
clients while being mindful of cultural differences.
6
A representative from housing helping clients
understand their options
The session had a diverse range of speakers
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Settlement Grants Program / Migrant Support Services
On Friday the 19th of June, MARSS was happy to celebrate Refugee Week with a vari-
ety of events, the highlight of which was an open day at Waramanga. In conjunction
with Refugee Week, the event also celebrated the launch of the art and craft group. It
began with guests meeting one another and arriving to view clothes that had been
crafted by the women of the MARSS sewing group.
The event offered visitors the chance to see the hard work that the women of the sew-
ing group had done, and gave attendees the chance to see a number of culturally di-
verse experiences including ‘Welcome to Country’ and smoke ceremony conducted by
Greg Chatfield, an incredibly lively musical number by Charles Koker, a moving
speech by Zoha Shahriaki of the sewing group, as well as Ali Ekhtiari and Dr Kim
Huynh from the ANU talking about his experiences a refugee. Yvette Berry MLA was
also kind enough to give a speech to the assembled guests and welcome all at-
tendees. The event concluded with all assembled parties being treated to a variety of
foods and snacks and given the chance to meet and greet one another.
7
Refugee Week Celebration
A musical number by Charles Koker Ladies of the Sewing Group with Yvette Ber-
ry MLA and Dewani Bakkum
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Settlement Grants Program / Migrant Support Services
Want To Volunteer?
The SGP program needs volunteers to help our clients fill out application forms, such as Hous-
ing ACT applications for social housing, Centrelink forms and Immigration forms. These forms
can be daunting and complicated for some of MARSS’ clients to complete. Volunteers have ac-
cess to a translating service if the client has low English proficiency.
You do not need to have any previous experience to volunteer with us. For more information
contact Zoe Burns at [email protected] or call MARSS reception on (02) 6248 8577.
Migrant Support Services Migrant Support Services (MSS) provides settlement services to migrants, refugees and asylum
seekers living in the ACT.
MSS is funded by the ACT Community Services Directorate - ACT Government and
clients are assisted with a range of settlement issues, including finding accommodation, employ-
ment, training and education services, family support, financial management and community en-
gagement.
In providing these services, MSS officers endeavor to link clients with mainstream,
service providers to provide a pathway to independence and a transition to life in Australia.
8
Settlement Grants Program
The Settlement Grants Program (SGP) is an integral part of MARSS' settlement services. We
provide free settlement assistance through casework, provision of information, referrals and ad-
vocacy services. To be eligible for SGP services the person must be a refugee or humanitarian
visa holder, newly-arrived migrant on Family Visa with low English proficiency. Those in some
other visa streams and newly emerging communities in the ACT are deemed to be SGP clients.
Clients accessing SGP services must be residing in Australia under five years.
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9
It has been a big few months for the Harmony
Sports Program with a number of changes
since the last newsletter!
Brady McMullen has taken over from Alex Do-nato as the Harmony Sports Program Officer. MARSS has also established a men’s volley-ball team in the Volleyball ACT Spring Com-petition. Interest in the team has been strong. The team is performing with great knowledge and teamwork for their first season in the com-petition and is currently sitting mid-table and have had some strong wins against estab-lished competition! Team Harmony futsal team has also had a
good season, finishing fourth. The competition
this season has been very competitive so far.
Team Harmony is coming of the back of a 4-0
win over Cabbage last week, the ideal prepa-
ration for the 3rd place play-off game Vs.
Bendtner for the Ballon d’Or this Friday the
4th of September!
The MARSS Volleyball team in action
during their first game!
The MARSS Volleyball team receiving instruction
from referees before the game
Harmony Sports Program
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10
The Team Harmony Basketball teams have been
playing well despite some recent upheaval due to
players moving interstate. The women’s team in
particular has been playing really well on Monday
nights and their confidence in each other is really
showing through their teamwork and ability to ad-
here to a game-plan, winning 40-7 against Wests
Magpies last week. With two games to go, the
women are currently sitting 3rd on the ladder and
are well placed to once again make the finals.
The Men’s A and B teams are currently looking to-
wards next season, developing players and team-
work in anticipation for the summer competition.
Team Harmony also recently held a social training
and game against the Ginninderra Rats U19’s
team. The game was a friendly affair and an ideal
way to expand Team Harmony’s recognition in the
Basketball community.
Coming up, MARSS also has a social game and
training slated to take place at 6:30pm on the 8th
of September at Dickson College with the Canber-
ra Basketball Meet-up group. If you are interested
in playing for Team Harmony next season, Team
Harmony Basketball is opening training to players
between the ages of 16-35. If you are keen to play
basketball come along to Dickson College Basket-
ball Court on Tuesdays at 6:30 for team training
and a social game.
For more information or to register to play for any
of MARSS’ sport teams, contact Brady at
[email protected] or the MARSS Reception on
(02) 62488 577.
The MARSS women’s team in
action!
Team Harmony training with
Ginninderra Rats U19’s
Harmony Sports Program
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Community Development Program
11
MARSS Road Ready Program has been up and running since January this year, the
course is set on a 5 week structure to accommodate client’s work/life balance and
needs; this makes the course a slow but fruitful process. The learn to drive program
works with client groups of nationalities, rather than individuals from various groups,
the reason is not all clients form every group can speak English, so having 4 different
interpreters and English speaking clients would be a disaster.
By doing it this way, it offers a learning environment with fellow countrymen and a
translator provided by MARSS, this mitigates any further loss of time with multiple ex-
planations and translators trying to get the message across. The program has seen 30
successful clients receive their license, and take the next steps to prepare for our driv-
ing program. There will be another class starting in the coming weeks which will see
another 10 clients have the opportunity to receive their L’s.
Road Ready Program
MARSS’ Road Ready program has been running since the start of 2015. MARSS has seen a diverse
range of clients since the pilot commenced such as Columbian, Fijian, Chinese, Arabic and many
more ethnicities. MARSS currently has a program which is due to conclude in June. Once the current
courses are finished, new courses will commence. The course is free and consists of one lesson a
week for five weeks. Once clients complete the course they will have the opportunity to undergo the
road rules knowledge test. For further information please call 6248 8577 or email
Learn to Drive Program
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Community Development Program
12
CDP’s Computer Class Graduates
MARSS has been running
computer classes for its cli-
ents since the beginning of
the year with a huge amount
of interest from a wide array
of demographics. Operating
under MARSS’ Community
Development Program (CDP),
MARSS is happy to announce
that it has now completed its
second round of the computer
course with a whole new class
of clients having proudly
graduated. The program is
currently part-way through its
third class of students for the
year, with important comput-
er skills such as Microsoft Of-
fice being taught.
There are still spots available
in the current computer class,
and if you feel that you or an-
yone could benefit from the
classes please don’t hesitate
to contact Zoe Burns on
[email protected] or (02)
6248 8577.
Some proud graduating students
MARSS’ computer class in action
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Canberra Becomes Refugee Welcome Zone
13
The momentous signing by Yvette Berry MLA
On June 18th, Canberra was able to proudly declare itself a ‘Refugee Wel-
come Zone’ after a symbolic ceremony took place in the Theo Notaras Mul-
ticultural Centre where Yvette Berry MLA took part in a ceremonial signing
of a declaration that made Canberra a ‘Refugee Welcome Zone’. While Can-
berra will join the ranks of other cities such as Melbourne, Sydney and Ho-
bart, the event was momentous as signing means that the ACT becomes
the first state or territory to become a ‘Refugee Welcome Zone’. The event
was proudly attended by MARSS staff members, as well as CEO Dewani
Bakkum and members of the board. There were several moving speeches,
as well as the proud declaration by attendees that ‘Real Australians Say
Welcome’, a tagline that is now being used to show support for refugees
throughout Australia. MARSS was proud and honoured to have been a part
of this historic event, and would like to thank Yvette Berry for helping Can-
berra show its support for migrants and refugees throughout the region.
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Canberra Becomes Refugee Welcome Zone
14
Attendees showing that ‘Real Australi-
ans Say Welcome’
MARSS CEO Dewani Bakkum along with
board members and MARSS staff.
MARSS Board Member Raewyn Bastion
was proud to be one of the key attendees
Yvette Berry talked to all attendees
about the significance and purpose of
the declaration
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Mapping Our Journeys
15
MAPPING OUR JOURNEYS EXHIBITION OPENING
Brendan Smyth MLA talking about the im-
portance of migrant and refugee communities
On Monday the 1st of June MARSS hosted the opening of the Mapping Our Journeys': Celebrat-ing Our Diversity art exhibition. It was a wonderful night and a fun way to celebrate the artistic contri-bution of the ACT’s migrant com-
munities.
The exhibition, which was on dis-play until the 1st of July 2015, featured artworks from a variety of mediums including painting, clothing, crafts, textiles and jewel-lery sourced from range of local contributors such as the MARSS Arts and Craft group, the Canber-ra Russian School and the Tug-
geranong Arts Centre.
Mapping Our Journeys’ brought to-
gether works from artists from a
variety of professional and cultural
backgrounds. This diversity was
apparent at the exhibition opening
as it was attended by over 50 Can-
berrans, all of which came to see
the important local artistic contri-
bution which migrant artists have.
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16
The evening was curated by the wonderful Lynne Johnson, who is also the Sewing Coordinator at MARSS. Lynne did a wonderful job devoting her time and energy to curating the exhibition which, by all accounts, was a tremendous success. The opening was attend-ed by Brendan Smyth MLA, ACT Legislative Assembly, Chad Ryan of the Department of Social Ser-vices, which supported the exhibi-tion and Lindsay Burge from the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Don Nordblom provided an interesting and enjoyable musical background to the night’s proceedings on his
Oud.
Brendan Smyth MLA, touched up-on the importance which migrant and refugee communities have in driving cultural and artistic change and innovation and the importance this can have locally, nationally and globally. The narra-tives of migration, culture and per-severance presented throughout Mapping Our Journeys' are worthy of celebration, not only for the in-dividual stories told, but also for the way in which they allow us to broaden our understanding of our
own communities.
MARSS would like to thank all the
artists and attendees who came
out for the opening in support of
the exciting and passionate artistic
work of members of ACT migrant
and refugee communities.
CEO Dewani Bakkum with opening night at-
tendees
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Department of Employment Fundraiser
17
MARSS has recently been happy to an-
nounce that it is the Department of Em-
ployment’s graduate fundraising commit-
tee’s chosen charity for this year.
Throughout the year the Department of
Employment will be running a number of
events throughout the year and the fund
will be subsequently used to fund several
vital projects in MARSS’ community de-
velopment program.
The Community Development Program
runs several projects which aim to assist
migrants and refugees in a number of
ways such as after school studies, lan-
guage assistance, and driving lessons.
The CDP program has recently made
even further efforts to assist MARSS cli-
ents with finding employment and is
heavily reliant on fundraising and
grants.
On Friday the 8th of May, the department
hosted a happy hour to help begin rais-
ing funds for MARSS. Sandra Elhelw
from MARSS was able to attend and
meet with the various graduates and dis-
cuss MARSS and what the fundraising
would help contribute towards. She also
had the chance to meet with Vicki Run-
dle (Group Manager of the People Group)
and Renee Leon (Secretary of the Depart-
ment of Employment) and was very
pleased to see how enthusiastic they
were about MARSS and the work we un-
dertake.
MARSS would like to give a big thank
you to the Department of Employment
by honouring us as their chosen charity.
We’re looking forward to future events!
Department of Employment graduates Amy
Roberts and Sacha Stokes with Sandra Elhelw
from MARSS
Sandra with Renee Leon, Secretary of the De-
partment of Employment
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18
UNHCR Conference
I was delighted to attend the UNHCR NGO
Consultations and Annual Tripartite Consul-
tations on Resettlement this month. I fo-
cused primarily on the ATCR component of
the conference, as the bilateral meetings
were distributed among an Australian dele-
gation of about 20 participants. The delega-
tion was lead by Paul Power of RCOA. It was
a good opportunity to observe, listen and fa-
ther information on refugee resettlement in-
ternationally. The majority of questioning
throughout the conference was undertaken
by other delegates.
The ATCR involved 230 delegates from 28
countries, and discussed the UNHCR’s reset-
tlement priorities for 2016. At the present
moment there are over 1,153,300 refugees
worldwide and 111,397 are resettled. Aus-
tralia is in fact one of the top three resettle-
ment countries, behind America and Canada.
The UNHCR’s target is 130,000.
While I was in Geneva I also had the oppor-
tunity to promote the International Settle-
ment Conference. I distributed the promo-
tional material during the week, and received
a great deal of interest in the International
Conference. The Norweigan Red Cross who
organised the ATCR took a particular interest
and will also be promoting the conference in-
ternationally.
- Dewani Bakkum, MARSS CEO
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MARSS Eid Celebrations
On Friday the 24th of July, MARSS was ex-
tremely happy to host it’s annual Eid cele-
bration. The night began with guests slowly
arriving whilst the ‘Takbir Eid’ played over
the speakers. There was a huge number of
guests arriving from a variety of Muslim, and
non-Muslim communities helping demon-
strate the multiculturalism and acceptance
of the event itself and MARSS. MARSS was
proud to host members of the Sudanese,
Burmese, Afghani, Iranian, Iraqi and other
communities. In addition, MARSS was very
proud to have Alistair Coe MLA attending.
The night was opened by Hashimat Mir from
MARSS, and was followed by a speech by
Imam Konda who helped highlight the im-
portance of Eid within Islam, as well as the
importance of multiculturalism and coopera-
tion within society today. After this, we had a
musical number by Donald Nordblom who
was able to play a number of traditional Mid-
dle Eastern songs on his Oud.
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MARSS Eid Celebrations
After the presentations and speeches were con-
cluded, the night moved on to what proved to
be its most popular component; the feast.
MARSS staff ,with co-ordination by their CEO
Dewani Bakkum, had spent the day preparing
a huge amount of Indian curry, Middle Eastern
deserts, and other food options for guests. The
food proved to be extremely popular as guests
lined up throughout the hall to come get sec-
ond and third servings.
The night ultimately proved to be a huge suc-
cess and MARSS was very happy to host such
a varied and multicultural experience. MARSS
would like to give a big thank you to all at-
tendees and presenters!
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Upcoming Events
If you would like more information about any of these events please contact MARSS on
6248 8577 or email [email protected]
21
Legal Advice Clinic
Want to receive free legal advice by Legal Aid ACT?
MARSS now hosts a legal advice clinic for clients on Fridays, on a forthnightly basis.
Legal Aid ACT provides this service to clients who wish to receive legal advice
If you need legal assistance and representation but cannot afford a private lawyer,
please book a half hour appointment by calling MARSS reception on (02) 6248 8577) or
through your caseworker at MARSS( eligibility criteria apply).
MARSS Team Harmony Basketball Games. Women: Monday and Tuesday. Men: Tuesday,
Wednesday & Thursday.
MARSS AGM 9th September 5:00 to 6:30pm
Gardening Round Table, 11th September, 36 Damala St, Waramanga
Job Ready Information Session, Function Room, Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre, 17th
of September, 1:30pm to 3:30pm
LAC Meeting, 7th October, 10:30am
HSS Orientation Session, Function Room, Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre, 12th
October, 2pm to 6pm
Dewali Celebrations at MARSS: 6th of November
Christmas Celebrations at MARSS: 17th of December
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More Services
Translating and Interpreting provided
Staff members at MARSS are often fluent in languages other than English but if a staff member
doesn’t speak your language we are able to easily access Translating and Interpreting Services by
telephone (or, if necessary, in person) to facilitate clear communication with our clients.
Street Law
Street Law is a project delivered by the Welfare Rights & Legal Centre in partnership with the Abo-riginal Legal Service and Legal Aid ACT. Street Law provides legal advice and representation to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. They can also provide legal advice and casework for family related issues. Street Law will be visiting MARSS by appointment only. Feel free to drop by or book an appointment at MARSS reception.
Justice of the Peace (JP) Services
MARSS is continuing to work with local Justices of the Peace to provide JP services for our clients.
This is a completely free service so please do not hesitate to make your appointment.
Emergency Relief Fund
We provide assistance to all of our clients who need help with food vouchers or bus tickets.
Through the Emergency Relief Fund, MARSS provides clients with emergency support in times of
financial difficulty. If you require assistance please contact 6248 8577 to make an appointment with
one of our officers.
Community Information
Regular information and educational sessions are held regularly at MARSS. To find out when the
next session will be held, please call 6248 8577.
22
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Migrant and Refugee Settlement
Services of the ACT Inc.
Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre
2nd Floor North Building
180 London Circuit, Canberra City
Phone: (02) 6248 8577
Fax: (02) 6257 7655
Website: www.marss.org.au
Email: [email protected]
Entrance to
MARSS
To find out more about MARSS services or to make an
appointment, please call MARSS on
6248 8577.