NAYSS News - FEBRUARY 2007
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IN THIS EDITION...
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> From the Lead Provider
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> Update from FaCSIA
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> NAYSS in Wollongong
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> NAYSS in Shepparton/Cobram
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> NAYSS in Sydney (Granville/Auburn)
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> NAYSS in Perth
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> Ideas for meeting the needs of Muslim young women in sport and recreation
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> Newly Arrived Young People and the media
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> In next month's edition of NAYSS e-News
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| From the Lead Provider
| A big thank you from the Lead Provider to all participants at the Good Practice Forum held in December last year. We really appreciated your active participation in all aspects of the Forum and were energised by all your stories of the challenges and rewards of the work required within the NAYSS Initiative.
Thanks also to our fabulous speakers: Michelle Parker, Al Hines, Dr Phil Crane, Nadia Mohammed, Michael Apout, Moyong Kong, and Augustino Amuan on the Youth Panel, and Valentina Angelovska for their fabulous input and inspiration.
We are still chasing up electronic copies of all the presentations and are collecting photos, so keep an eye out for a section coming soon to the website where you’ll find a range of follow up from the forum.
In this edition of the NAYSS newsletter hear from Janeta in Wollongong, Alison and Sam in Shepparton, the team in Granville, Sydney and also the NAYSS team from ASeTTs in Perth. Also have a read about a business we thought it was worth letting you know about, particularly for those of you working with young Muslim women around accessing sport and recreation. And finally some food for thought about your role in promoting positive news stories about newly arrived young people and their communities.
As always, we welcome your input and feedback so don’t hesitate to contact us – nayss@cmyi.net.au. Talk to you soon!
Leigh and Nadia
NAYSS Lead Provider Team
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Update from FaCSIA
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FaCSIA would like to thank you all for attending the NAYSS Good Practice Forum in December. It was great to see you all there and hope it was beneficial for your service and staff.
We would like to introduce the National Office NAYSS team for those of you who don’t know us yet. Michael Newman is the NAYSS team leader, supported by Alison Sparkman and Rose Beatty. Our contact details are below, including an updated list of FaCSIA state and territory office contacts.
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National Office
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Michael Newman
Tel: (02) 6212 9439
Email: michael.newman@facsia.gov.au
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Alison Sparkman
Tel: (02) 6212 9043
Email: alison.sparkman@facsia.gov.au
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Rose Beatty
Tel (02) 6212 9446
Email: rose.beatty@facsia.gov.au
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ACT State Office
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Alisoun Neville
Tel (02) 6212 9158
Email: alisoun.neville@facsia.gov.au
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QLD State Office
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Mark Rowland
Tel (07) 4638 9375
Email: mark.rowland@facsia.gov.au
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SA State Office
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Leonie McConachy
Tel (08) 8400 2118
Email: leonie.mcconachy@facsia.gov.au
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TAS State Office
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Patty Hartmann
Tel (03) 6211 9327
Email: patricia.hartmann@facsia.gov.au
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VIC State Office
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Alex Jakob
Tel (03) 8626 1142
Email: alex.jakob@facsia.gov.au
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NSW State Office
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Lynne Southwell
Tel (02) 8255 1182
Email: lynne.southwell@facsia.gov.au
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NT State Office
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Rebecca Burgess
Tel (08) 8920 8947
Email: rebecca.burgess@facsia.gov.au
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WA State Office
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Sharon Budworth
Tel (08) 9229 1576
Email: sharon.budworth@facsia.gov.au
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FaCSIA website: http://www.facsia.gov.au
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NAYSS in Wollongong
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Hi guys,
First let me wish you all a Happy and prosperous New Year ahead!!! It was great seeing you all at the Sydney December Forum and I’m looking forward to our next one.
Apart from being very busy at our Wollongong NAYSS, we are venturing out and doing some exciting new projects in collaboration with the other agencies in our area. The latest event that NAYSS Wollongong is involved in is a Theatre production for African Communities in the Illawarra. This is an initiative of the Illawarra Legal Centre and a few of the specialist agencies are involved, including myself. It is for the purpose of educating newly arrived communities of their legal rights when renting a home, as it was recognized through Action Research (‘yarning’) that there was a need for more education regarding this issue. This will be staged at the Illawarra Multicultural Centre on the 26th February 2007 and most of our NAYSS clients will be present. The production will involve interpreters from some of the African cultures that will be attending the theatre and will be in the form of story telling with plenty of interaction and participation from the audience. Hopefully it will be a great success and I am sure that Sydney NAYSS Services are aware of this Theatre, as it will be touring Sydney as well. If more details are required regarding the Sydney events please get in touch with me. Stay safe and stay beautiful…
Akuna Matata!!!
Janeta Ristich
NAYSS Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4228-0388
Email: nayss@syfs.org.au
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NAYSS in Shepparton/Cobram
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The conference in Sydney in early December sent me back to Shepparton full of enthusiasm and passionate about the combination of new knowledge with my own ideas. As a newly appointed NAYSS worker I began by engaging with several groups of young people both in Cobram and in Shepparton.
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In Cobram
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- I ran 2 separate afternoon sessions for both male and female Arabic speaking young people. Both groups shared many stories about the challenges and the successes of their journey to the Goulburn Valley.
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- Following on from these sessions we had a get together afternoon for each group to play games, talk, have pizza and explore ideas about what NAYSS at Cutting Edge can do to assist their growth in their communities.
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- Then in early January we hosted the Islamic Woman’s Welfare Council of Vic to run a 2 day Leadership program in Cobram.
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In Shepparton
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- A holiday program was run over 3 afternoons for 3 weeks, we had girls and boys sessions with activities such as drumming, games, indoor soccer, aerobic/exercise and drama. Together we identified several areas of support that newly arrived young people would like assistance with. One that stood out was understanding the learners manual for getting a drivers license. In 2007 we will be running a program ‘Get to know the L’s Book’ which is a 6 week program where we will take young people through the Learners book.
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- In amongst the fun things we have also been busy supporting young people in crisis around housing, employment and family conflict. Providing individual support is very time consuming as those of you already doing this will know.
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2007 has many things on the agenda for the NAYSS team:
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- Opportunities for young people to engage in local community
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- Continued emotional and physical support through face to face contact and group facilitation
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…we will keep you posted.
Cheers from the Team in Shepparton
Alison and Sam
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NAYSS in Sydney (Granville/Auburn)
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The team in Granville/Auburn – Christian and Andrea – have been busy since we last met them in December. They’ve held an official ‘Launch’ of their NAYSS service and have even managed to get some media coverage, highlighting the challenges during settlement for families and explaining the support they can provide to young people around family conflict. Well done guys!
See below for more ideas about newly arrived young people and the media.
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NAYSS in Perth
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ASeTTS was recently successful in obtaining funding to run school vacation activities for young people from a refugee background. ASeTTS NAYSS has been funded by the Office of Multicultural Interests to facilitate the Youth Vacation Program for the period of the 10th -20th of April. The program will involve 5 workshops culminating in a 3 day camp in Karridale. Thirty participants who are already part of the NAYSS program in both the school and the community will take part in this school vacation program.
The five workshops will include the following topics, Australian way of life; Health and social wellbeing; Information, referrals and Service Providers available to CLD youth; and Education and Traineeships. The workshops will run for about 3hrs a day and will involve creative teambuilding exercises such as minefield, multi-way tug of war and many other ice-breakers. The purpose of these activities is to strengthen and build good social skills and reduce social isolation for the young people involved. The workshops will also include guest speakers from different service providers and excursions to hotels and national parks. As mentioned, these workshops will conclude with a three day camp at the Explorus Outdoor Education Centre in Karridale. At this campsite, which is situated near Hamelin Bay in the Margaret River region of Western Australia, the participants’ will be challenged through a series of orienteering and other challenging activities.
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Ideas for meeting the needs of Muslim young women in sport and recreation
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| Following up on some enquiries from NAYSS service providers about the uniform needs of young Muslim women participating in sport, we have found a business that does just that. Ahiida designed the uniform for the first Muslim policewoman in Victoria and currently is producing uniforms for Muslim women in Surf Life Saving in Sydney. Why not check out what they and other similar businesses have to offer for NAYSS clients!
Ahiida, designers of sports and swimwear aim to enhance the lifestyle of the active Muslim female. All our garments are designed with respect for Islamic values. Our designs aim to encourage Muslim women to participate and involve themselves in what Australian sport and recreation has to offer, whilst still fulfilling their religious obligations.
We all know the importance of keeping active, staying fit and healthy for the MIND BODY and SOUL. Therefore, we have produced a range that will give the wearer the confidence, freedom and flexibility they need without any restrictions.
Ahiida uses only quality innovative fabrics in all of our sports garments. Developed with the latest high performance technology, this will give the finished product; breathe-ability, moisture control, softness, strength and elasticity for easy wear.
Ahiida’s Burqini swimsuits are all 50+UV protected, chlorine resistant, water repellent with low water absorbency and quick drying. Therefore our designs are durable and practical whilst still retaining simple yet stylish, fresh designs.
Ahiida sports and swimwear... confidence, freedom and flexibility ... live life to the fullest!
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Newly arrived young people and the media
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With recent negative stories appearing in a range of newspapers around Australia NAYSS staff have voiced concern over the impact of this on the young people they are working with, particular those who are newly arrived African Australians. For an example of one of these recent articles go to: www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21164506-2,00.html
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What we at CMYI have tried to do is to highlight positive alternative stories, especially for newly arrived young people. This is one way that you can encourage and support young people you work with, and bi-cultural staff, to feel they can provide ‘the other side of the story’. For some ideas visit the CMYI media section at: www.cmyi.net.au/media
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In next month's edition
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Look out in our March edition for a new format and name for the NAYSS newsletter. Also watch for an article on conflict in schools and more news from your fellow NAYSSers!
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