Monthly Archives: March 2018

Everyone belongs

Yesterday’s Harmony Day, promoting inclusiveness and belonging, brought to an end a week of celebrations around Australia. I was lucky enough to attend several wonderful events celebrating Harmony Day and was inspired to hear of some great initiatives happening in Western Australia.

One of the highlights of the week for me, was seeing a video clip called Same Drum. Recently released by students of Aranmore Catholic College in Perth this three-minute video was created during a series of workshops with students from the Intensive English Centre. It’s sung in three African languages – Swahili, Dinka and Kinyarwanda – as well as English. The project was devised by artist and filmmaker Poppy van Oorde-Grainger. It’s gone viral! I really recommend you take a look.

I attended a major event at Curtin University for the launch of the 2017 Catalyst Report. The Catalyst Youth Summit was held over three days and once again, provided nearly sixty young, multicultural Western Australians the opportunity to build relationships, speak with politicians and work together to develop solutions to issues that face their peers. The report is up on my Research and Reports page.

And lastly, as usual the town of Katanning in the Great Southern region of WA put on a fantastic celebration for Harmony Day. I have a personal connection with Katanning as I wrote a chapter about its extraordinary success with multiculturalism in More to the Story. While I couldn’t get there this year, I have heard the Shire, local businesses and community groups put on a great event full of local food, music, performances, art and activities. With 6,000 people attending over the weekend Katanning knows how to celebrate! Check out the photos on their Facebook page.

Students filming Same Drum
Katanning Harmony Day
Katanning Harmony Day

 

Celebrating Harmony Week

Harmony-Week-Web-Banner

Harmony Week in Western Australia starts today 15 March and runs through to Australia’s Harmony Day on 21 March. Harmony Week is an opportunity for all Western Australians to celebrate our vibrant multicultural State. The fabulous artwork used for this year’s Harmony Week banner is by local artist Alina Tang. Her parents were Vietnamese refugees who came to Australia in the 1980s.

Harmony Day in Australia takes place on the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which started in recognition of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre when police fired on a peaceful demonstration against apartheid in South Africa, killing 69 unarmed protestors.

Harmony Week has become an opportunity for all of us to celebrate our diversity while working to remove barriers that still exist in the community. The message of Harmony Day is ‘everyone belongs’. The day aims to engage people to participate in their community, respect cultural and religious diversity and foster sense of belonging for everyone.

Since 1999, more than 70,000 Harmony Day events have been held in childcare centres, schools, community groups, churches, businesses, and federal, state and local government agencies across Australia.

The 2016 census showed Western Australia is one of Australia’s most culturally diverse States. You can see other States results on the website.  I found it particularly interesting to be reminded that one-third (32.2 per cent) of Western Australians are born overseas — that’s the highest percentage of the population for any Australian State or Territory.   Among those born overseas, people from non-main English speaking countries (410,291) outnumbered those from main English speaking countries (387,423) for the first time since the Census began in Western Australia.   What’s it like where you live?

Everyone can join in Harmony Week: community organisations, businesses, State Government agencies, local governments, schools, colleges and universities. More information is available from the Harmony Day and the Office of Multicultural Interests websites.

These websites have suggested activities or events: simple things like organising a morning tea, inviting speakers to your groups or cooking up a variety of different food from different countries at home or with friends.

A Taste of Harmony has some super recipe suggestions from Syria, Turkey, China and Vietnam and so many other places. I’m rather fond of the Iranian Marinated chicken with charred limes on the BBQ myself, but I am yet to tackle Baklava, which I love.

What will you do to celebrate?

 

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is a worldwide event that celebrates women’s achievements, from the political to the social, while calling for gender equality. It has been observed since the early 1900s and is now recognised each year on 8 March.

In Australia, it has just been confirmed that in 2018 the gender pay gap is 22% – which makes me question just how far we have come on the road to gender equality for women. The principle of equal pay for equal work was introduced in my country in 1969, so how can there still be such a disparity?

There is no doubt women from a refugee background face much bigger issues than pay equality. Issues such as persecution, conflict and often violence.   Some of these threats are quite distinct from those that men and boys face. According to the Women’s Refugee Commission, 50% of female victims of sexual violence are 15 years old or younger. In the world’s conflict zones 10 million girls are not in school; girls account for only 30% of refugees enrolled in secondary school.

As I enter the last year of my PhD at Curtin University, my research and writing is concentrated on how the stories of refugees are narrated.  I did not set out to focus on women, but that is how my four years of study has turned out.

So, on this International Women’s Day, I am choosing to celebrate by sharing some success stories about women of a refugee background.

While I can’t share the stories from my PhD research yet, I wanted to give you some links to stories from women who have faced much more challenging backgrounds than most of us and yet have found a way to not only survive, but to thrive.

And finally, to gain some insight into what is going on in Western Australia – that could also be applicable in other countries – look at Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Centre  which encourages the health and wellbeing of women of all ages and from all cultural backgrounds, as well as the Edmund Rice Centre WA.

Sisterworks catering - refugees

Sisterworks Catering – a Melbourne business run by women from a refugee background