Last issue, Lauren Weatherall wrote of the ways Tibetan students are welcomed to The Forest High School, and assisted to successfully overcome the language and cultural challenges faced when arriving in Australia. This issue we look at the services available for their parents and the over 1,000 Tibetan refugees who have settled on the Peninsula.
The Northern Beaches is home to Australia’s largest Tibetan community. Thanks to the Community Northern Beaches (CNB) Multicultural and Settlement Service, Tibetan refugees are provided with comprehensive assistance to best ensure a smooth transition in creating a new life, as well as ongoing care to deal with the many challenges which arise.
As Sandra Simendic, Program Manager at the CNB Multicultural Services explains, “We have an open-door policy, offering face-to-face assistance for anyone who seeks it. We help by making phone calls, appointments, filling in forms, explaining bills, pre- paring tax returns, providing information about other service providers, and guiding people with various problems such as dealing with Centrelink. These tasks can be extremely challenging for people without a strong proficiency in English, or awareness of how to navigate these systems.”
Another important member of the team is Dhondup, who migrated from Tibet to India and then Australia, and serves as Brookvale’s specialised Tibetan Settlement Case Worker. “We’re able to help Tibetans make the best possible adjustment to life here, with access to accommodation, medical services, education, training and employment opportunities, English conversation classes, learning to drive, and something that is especially important, and fun, is helping Tibetans learn to swim.
Being able to enjoy the ocean and the beach culture, that’s what the Northern Beaches is all about.”
The CNB Multicultural Service equips and empowers refugees to overcome the settlement hurdles, and build social networks in the community, gain employment and economic wellbeing, and the sense of independence and community connectedness that we can easily take for granted if we’ve grown up here. Through the expansion of the community’s social network, this creates a greater awareness of Tibet and of Tibetans in Australian society, facilitating their inclusion into the community and increasing opportunities for recognition and participation.
The perfect opportunity to become acquainted with the Tibetan community and learn about the riches of their culture takes place at Mackellar Girls School in Manly Vale, at the Tibetan Language and Culture School, which runs every Saturday. This allows everyone to develop a deeper sense of the Tibetan identity and customs, while making new friends, and establishing the true social networks which lead to opportunities across all walks of life.
With one of the most important days of the Tibetan calendar coming up on 6 July, the Dalai Lama’s birthday! there’s no better time to take part in the Tibetan cultural traditions that lead up to this celebration and get to know more about these huge- hearted refugees who we’re very fortunate to have on our shores.
Community Northern Beaches (CNB) is a not-for-profit organisation serving the vulnerable and at-risk people in the northern beaches LGA. Donations are always welcome. To do so, visit www.cnb.org.au or call 9977 1066
Refugee Week is 19-25 June. Learn more at www.refugeeweek.org.au
World Refugee Day Walk and Festival is on at Dee Why, 19 June at James Meehan Reserve (opposite Dee Why Lagoon), 11am – 3pm. Meet, walk and talk with people from the refugee community, and celebrate World Refugee Day together with food trucks, music, dance and soccer. Click here to book your spot.