Welcoming Refugees into the Community

This year I have been fortunate enough to have joined with a group of friends to volunteer for the Community Refugee Integration and Support Pilot Program (CRISP), run by Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) in partnership with the Australian government.  This program matches a refugee family with a group of about six Australians prepared to support the family through their first year in the country. 

My group is supporting a beautiful displaced Syrian family with four kids aged 4 to 10 who arrived in Melbourne in February and are now located in Craigieburn.  We met them at Melbourne Airport and then have played a hands-on role in helping them to successfully settle in, assisting with things like housing, school enrolments and employment.  This weekend we are celebrating the birthday of their youngest child with a party and a visit to a trampoline park.  This is delightful, as they never celebrated birthdays previously, however they have adopted this custom with great gusto.  We were so grateful for the support of the parish in helping us to secure housing upon their arrival.

We continue to support the family with the day-to-day business of life, for example, navigating paying bills, learning English, taking them on outings.  If there are parishioners who have time, some ways to help could be:

• Donations of warm clothing
• Escorting to appointments/outings
• Helping with English
• Helping complete forms

If you can assist, please contact me at [email protected]

It is truly a lovely experience getting to know this family.

By Clare Hicks

Clare is Deputy Principal at Our Lady’s Primary School in Surrey Hills