Iginas Gasengayire spent his early years in refugee camps in Africa terrified of teachers; he never imagined he would become one.
“Teachers were really mean to us,” he said.
“We’d just get beat up all the time for no reason … so I was terrified by teachers.”
A marked difference in experience at school in Australia would eventually inspire Mr Gasengayire to become a teacher — “Mr Iggy” — and return to the high school where he arrived 14 years ago as a nervous student who spoke no English.
IPC Health is one of the largest providers of community health service in Victoria. Our purpose is to improve quality of life for the people and communities we serve by maximising access to health and wellbeing services. Our mission is to deliver innovative high quality services that are client centred, collaborative, coordinated and demonstrate value through measured impact.
Individuals through a single point of contact can connect to a full spectrum of care and support using consistent approaches including those of our partners. We are looking for BiCultural Inclusion Workers: Iraqi, South Sudanese and Vietnamese.
The Ethnic Community Council of Victoria Intercultural Young Advocacy Leaders (IYAL) program is a pathway for young people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds to develop advocacy, governance and leadership experience. ECCV are currently recruiting young leaders for the program. Applications close 19 April 2021.
A female-led community health education program kicked off at St Paul’s Lutheran Church on Thursday 8 April, in a bid to improve health literacy among Shepparton’s diverse communities. Wise Well Women, a joint program convened by Lorna Gillespie and Christine Nunn, will assist 12 refugee and migrant women to provide a bridge between the health system and their respective communities.
St Paul’s African House has launched the first detailed survey into African communities of the Greater Shepparton region, celebrating with speeches and a spread on Saturday, March 27.
The Adult Migrant English Program currently provides up to 510 hours of free English tutoring combined with Australian culture and customs lessons.
Students need to register with an adult learning provider within six months of their arrival in Australia.
From 19 April 2021, more migrants will be able to access unlimited hours of free English tuition without timeframe restrictions.
The proposals for an Indigenous Voice would provide a way for Indigenous Australians to provide advice and input on matters that are important to improve their lives.
It could be made up of two parts – Local and Regional Voices and a National Voice.
Indigenous voice consultations will be held in Shepparton at 12:00 and 5pm on Wednesday 7 April at the Department of Rural Health, Graham Street, Shepparton.
Applications are now open to be part of Victoria’s new Anti-Racism Taskforce, which will play a key role in the development of a new state-wide strategy to prevent and crackdown on race-based discrimination and abuse.
English proficiency plays a central role in determining the successful integration of migrants into Australian society and is a key factor associated with education and employment outcomes. By providing measures for supporting migrants with low English proficiency to learn the national language, this action will facilitate social cohesion and national unity. The AMEP program will be changed and expanded access to the program will commence on April 19, 2021.
The Mental Health Foundation will conduct an online Zoom session presenting Educating and Supporting Hindi-speaking Communities to raise awareness and provide support to multicultural communities on evening of 24 March 2021.