Helping of others comes natural

JUDITH Richards learnt from an early age the importance of helping others, her family in the small Mallee town of Nandaly, often involved in community projects as she was growing up.

“I came from a family and was always surrounded by people who help each other,” she said.

“My dad was on the hall committee to build the new hall and mum always helped out because we were in a business and she knew everybody.

“We had a spare room, so we would put the new schoolteachers up.”

As Ms Richards got older and started a family of her own, she naturally wanted to help out.

“You have kids and you put a tennis racquet in their hand and next thing nobody wants to be secretary, so there you go,” she said.

“Then they go to school and your involved in the canteen and the school council and the like.”

Ms Richards would do more than just join committees and help out at community events, enjoying inviting those that needed a place to stay under her roof.

That, in turn, led to her involvement with the Bendigo Karen Refugee Project.

Karen are an ethnic minority group from Myanmar who were forced to flee a conflict.

“The plan was to provide support for Karen families currently living in Melbourne that wished to resettle in Bendigo,” she said.

“As well as sponsoring Karen families currently living in Thai refugee camps to come to Bendigo to start new lives.”

Helping and boarding the Karen was an experience unlike any other Ms Richards said.

“It was a lifechanging,” she said. “To have a family in your home for four weeks that can’t speak the same language.

“They weren’t used to having running water or even electricity it was just a wonderful experience.”

The BKRP has evolved in recent years to the Bendigo Friends and Mentors, with Ms Richards still involved.

“We know longer needed to bring the Karen out here because they started being able to sponsor their own families,” she said.

“Mentoring has become the big thing, helping refugees develop the skills and confidence they need to connect with the broader Bendigo community.”