Community celebrates unity during Refugee Week

REFUGEES and asylum seekers in Ballarat and beyond will be recognised in a seven-day-long celebration starting this Sunday.

Refugee Week will run from 20 to 26 June and chairperson of the Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council, Joy Sawiche Juma, will launch the week as guest speaker at a flag raising event on Monday.

“The flag that will be raised is the Refugee Week flag and I hope to talk about the developments among refugees, especially women, and what things the community has done to bring them together, to unite them,” she said.

Created in Sydney in 1986, Refugee Week is now celebrated globally, and this year’s theme is Unity – the way forward.

Executive officer of the BRMC Ann Foley said, “It’s this annual opportunity to celebrate the really wonderful ways in which people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds enrich the communities in which they live.

“That’s why the theme of unity is chosen because it’s really about communities accepting diversity, understanding the difficulties and challenges and celebrating the talents and contributions that people bring.

“And also celebrating the chance that our communities provide for people who would otherwise be in grave danger and persecution in their home countries to establish life here.”

Ms Foley said the theme also addresses the unity needed to respond to challenges posed on communities by COVID-19 lockdowns like isolation, job losses and mental health.

“These are issues that we see affecting people from refugee backgrounds all the time and COVID gave us a chance to see how that can happen to anyone in the community at any time and has brought a heightened awareness in the community about what we each can do,” she said.

“Many of the people in our community from refugee backgrounds and from migrant backgrounds were the people who were out volunteering, providing and sharing food, really being part of the communal response so that’s what unity is about too, us each doing our part and contributing to the best of our abilities.”

To view the full program of Refugee Week events or BRMC volunteer opportunities visit brmc.org.au.