Stellar performance raises $10,000 for refugees

AIREYS Inlet Rural Australians for Refugees (AIRAR) last month hosted its most successful fundraiser to date, raising $10,000 to strengthen its ongoing advocacy and support for the region’s refugees and asylum seekers.

The fundraiser was held last month at the Aireys Inlet Community Hall and featured a sterling performance by internationally acclaimed singer Bernadette Robinson.

Accompanied on piano by her musical director and collaborator Paul Noonan, Robinson engaged the audience with impressions of musical stars such as Barbra Streisand, Eartha Kitt of Santa Baby fame, Judy Garland and Kate Bush, among others.

AIRAR’s Rosita Vila said the community group was “over the moon” with the outcome.

The sold-out concert also included a performance of Letters to Nauru by actor Richard Piper and his wife Dimity Shepherd.

These heartfelt letters were written by concerned people across Australia to detainees on Nauru and Manus Island but were returned, unopened in 2015.

During the performance, Mr Piper and Ms Shepherd took turns reading from these letters that never made it out of the country.

Ms Vila said the moving performance reduced many to tears.

“To get a letter from someone saying ‘I’m thinking of you’, would have meant so much,” she said.

“It was really interesting the variety within the letters. People looked into themselves and thought ‘Now, this person who’s locked in detention, what would they want to hear about?’

“They were really beautifully crafted letters.”

The money raised will be used to fund four $500 scholarships for secondary school students in Geelong, bolster AIRAR’s monthly donation to the refugee foodbank at Geelong’s Wesley Asylum Seeker Welcome Place, support the provision of English language classes for refugees at the Cloverdale Community Centre and assist with the legal fees of asylum seekers applying for visas.

Some of the funds will also be put towards AIRAR’s Aid for Afghans fund which supports families living in Afghanistan who are at significant risk of persecution because of their faith, ethnicity and previous occupations.

The support delivered through this fund has recently assisted two families to relocate to Germany. One family has even had a baby, which Ms Vila described as “pure joy”.

“You’ve got these crises all over the world and what can you do? Send another letter to the Prime Minister?,” Ms Vila said reflecting on AIRAR’s impact.

“It’s so enriching. You don’t feel like you’re giving, you feel like you’re getting.”

The fundraising concert also coincided with a celebration of the progress made by two refugee families who moved to Aireys Inlet 12 months ago as part of the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) sponsorship program.

The community have rallied to support these families over the past year, assisting with transport, driving lessons, subsidised housing, English lessons and friendship where needed.

Ms Vila said the refugees’ settlement in Aireys Inlet had enriched the community.