Caring face of Vinnies

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
4 April 2004

ACU honours Bishop Robinson

Fight secularism, Pope tells bishops

Mass remembers Cardinal Thuan

ACU National says ‘no’ to HECS fee rise

On the frontline

Pregnant pause: It’s so enjoyable, I’m not sure that I want the waiting to end

La Perouse remembers Fr Receveur

‘Tony Abbott is right’

Liturgy Corner: Why do we bless ourselves with holy water?

Liquor outlet threat

Editorial: Good report

Letters: Sunday Mass

Conversation: Former Test batsman Rick McCosker - Cricket hero was a ‘closet Catholic ...’

Caring face of Vinnies

Keep smiling and God bless: Real news is Good News

New textbooks win praise from schools, parents

‘Auntie Paul’ – Mercy’s mistress of the Mater

Ellen Geary’s journey from ‘Irish’ town of Tumut

To Mass in the Colosseum

Record start for young swim star

Caring face of Vinnies

By John O’Neill

There are some 20 million people of concern worldwide waiting and hoping to resettle in a safe country. Australia has places for 12,000 refugees a year in its humanitarian program.

Many arrive from Africa and others from the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Refugees come to Australia to escape terrible and threatening situations in their home country or refugee camps. They come with little or nothing.

When humanitarian entrants arrive in NSW they are linked into essential services but their situation remains precarious, with little money, often in debt to relatives who have paid for their air fare, and suffering from culture shock and often torture and trauma-related issues. Children are particularly affected.

Many come from countries where conflict and war have been their only experience of life and many have missed out on a formal education, or have never been to school. The provision of basic household needs to these families goes a little way towards alleviating their troubled situation.

All these people need a helping hand and a caring spirit, which is why the St Vincent de Paul Society’s work with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers involves providing assistance to newly arrived

families in line with its mission of care of the poor and needy.

The Society’s migrant, refugees and asylum seekers committee in NSW provides casework settlement and immigration advisory services to newly arrived families.

This service is funded by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.

One of the major works of the committee is the household formation support service, which forms part of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affair’s Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy.

No other community organisation provides household formation support services, other than the Society in NSW/ACT. This service, which began in August 2001, assists in establishing a household for newly arrived eligible refugees and humanitarian entrants moving into long-term accommodation. The service ensures that they have essential furniture and household items. Since the program began, the Society has helped 2282 families; more than 1000 household entrants were assisted in the last financial year.

With so many different opinions about the position Australia should take on the policies which surround migration, it is important to keep in mind that these people have had to flee their country in turmoil and seek safety in another.

The Society, through the work of the migrant, refugees and asylum seekers committee, aims to extend a welcoming hand, free from judgment and injustice, to provide the best possible assistance to those in need.

It also aims to ensure that entrants have the basics they need to establish a home – a place where they can begin a new life of recovery, grow in confidence and care for their family, as well as seek employment and feel safe in their new environment.

Household formation support volunteers are a significant part of the process of rebuilding a feeling of security for newly arrived refugees, by showing the families a friendly face, a helping hand, and providing a contact point for any concerns they may have.

Household formation service volunteers are fully trained. They assist service staff in assessing the needs of humanitarian entrants, as well as conducting follow-up visits after the families’ furniture and household goods have been delivered.

The volunteers present the caring, human face of Vinnies to the newly arrived families, making them feel welcome and supported.

The volunteer recruitment program has been operating since September 2003. So far, 30 volunteers have been trained and nearly 50 families have been assisted by them.

For further information on the Household Formation Support service, or to become a volunteer in the program, please call Jarrah Ekstein on (02) 9560 8666.