Morning Tea: Celebrating World Refugee Day 🗺️ // Fri 18th June, 11 AM- 12PM AEST

Thank you for sharing @Former-Member

my mother is a migrant and has shared with me and my boys some very sad stories around the difficulties her family faced in coming to Australia. I appreciate you starting this thread to highlight the need for Unity and Togetherness.

Today I am having a long black and vegemite toast to share 🙂

How do you think each of us can play a part (on the forums and in our offline world) to achieve this together 🤝 ?

I think TALK -- the more we talk, the more liklihood for awareness and then potential change🙏

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@Former-Member wrote:

As a supporter and someone from a migrant background myself

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That's interesting, @Former-Member , as I picked you as a migrant ages ago! 🙂

The stories look interesting and I would like to read them after this Morning Tea.

Nice to know you can buy the rice cakes at Asian groceries 🙂

Can I add that she was punished physically by her teacher as she could not communicate in English at the time she started school here.

She eventually left and started working at 13 😞

@Former-Member @NatureLover @BPDSurvivor thankfully for a lovely man who taught her the basics in English 🤲

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@Anastasia wrote:

How do you think each of us can play a part (on the forums and in our offline world) to achieve this together 🤝 ?

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I think also a willingness to listen and to put ourselves in other people's shoes.

(Technically I am a migrant too, but because I came to Australia as a baby and from an Anglo-Saxon background, it's not obvious.)

I'm glad to have you here with us @Anastasia

That is so true.. I have some very close friends who have had to go through tremendous challenges and events before coming to Australia. Being in a foreign country and culture - that speaks another language can be so hard...

Though, with support from the community and those around them, they are doing well now

I couldn't agree more with what you said about the need to talk and raise awareness!

Thank you @Former-Member

I am glad they are all doing well now, thankfully with support from the community and those around them.

@NatureLover @Former-Member @BPDSurvivor and all here

@WIP please join us for a hot cuppa ☕❤

@NatureLover hehe yes! I'm pretty proud of my own culture and background/heritage
I didn't know that about you NL! I agree - being open and willing to listen (importantly- listen wholeheartedly) without any judgments or assumptions is crucial

@Anastasia I'm really sorry to hear what your friend had to go through. Unfortunately, this does happen (although not always), which is why I think it's really important that we talk about these things and promote unity amongst our communities!

Extending the morning tea time for another 20 mins as there is so much more for us to talk/share about (I hope that's alright with everyone!). If you haven't already please feel free to jump in and join the discussion!

I would like to share some tips on how we can all safely support people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds to share their experiences. These tips were written by a SANE Australia Peer Ambassador who has worked with refugees for a number of years.

• Make sure the person is comfortable with you and wants to share their experience.
  
  
• Be aware of your language use to avoid triggering them

• Allow them to reveal their story in their own time at their own pace – let them tell their story their way

• Check-in with them periodically to ensure they are still comfortable continuing a conversation, remember each time they tell their story it can be re-traumatising for them - let them know they have the ability to end the conversation at any time if they need to

Question: What are your thoughts on the above tips?

That's a good point that sharing their story can be re-traumatising for them. 😞

@Former-Member

I think another way we can help migrants to share their story is to volunteer teaching English to them in their homes. Not saying that English is the only way to share their story, of course! But I did this for a number of years, and you just naturally get involved in the migrant's story. Having English also helps the migrant with various things, such as applying for permanant residency, and going for a driver's licence, etc., so the English teacher can support them in these practical things as well.