Meet our friend and neighbour Blaise Itabelo for the launch of Season 3 of the Who Is My Neighbour? podcast. Blaise grew up in Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania where he describe life in the camp like trying to walk in the dark. The day always felt like a year. You are lucky when you have 2 meals per day.Blaise completed Primary and High school in the camp, and was then lucky to be awarded a UNHCR scholarship and studied a University degree in Dar Es Salaam Tanzania. Since migrating to Australia, Blaise has completed two postgraduate courses in Australian Migration Law and Practice as well as International and Community Development.You'll learn about the incredible journey and experiences that Blaise had making his way from Congo to a Tanzanian Refugee Camp, and eventually to his new home in Australia. In this episode you will also learn about The Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP). This new program enables a local group of five or more people to welcome and support a refugee family from their first day in Australia. We screen and train groups prior to matching them with a refugee household that has been identified as in urgent need of resettlement by the UNHCR.Until next time, thank you for subscribing and sharing this podcast with your friends.Learn More — https://youbelong.org.auYouTube — https://youtu.be/p4SMxdhYr8s Who Is My Neighbour? & You Belong acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation, now known as Australia, and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Bina Bhattacharya - Award-winning filmmaker (Writer/Producer/Director)
Nisrine Amine - Screenwriter, actor and teacher
Geoff McDonald - Councillor of Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) since 2012 and currently Deputy Mayor
Eakraj Adhikari is a social justice advocate at TASC Community Legal and Social Services in Toowoomba.
Erin O'Shannessy – Pre-service teacher and tutor of English language.
Shahjahan Khan - Professor of Statistics at the University of Southern Queensland and President of the Islamic Society in Toowoomba.
Barbara Bluett - Retired nurse and ong and short term volunteer work overseas She has a Higher School Certificate, General and Midwifery Nursing Training; short stint of bush nursing in the Nullabor; has done long and short term volunteer work overseas including the Philippines and Hong Kong, Israel and Iraq, and short trips to disaster areas in Sri Lanka, Japan, Thailand, Burma, China, Greece, Nepal.
Gitie House OAM- President and Founding member of the Toowoomba International Multicultural Society
Andre McMillan – Youth Hub Worker at Multicultural Australia
Mahsa Nabizada - grade 11 Fairholme College student, youth political leader and radio presenter.
Rahila Abdul Hadi is an artist and a second-year student of Law at QUT.
Jennifer (also known to the locals as Jenny) wears a couple of different hats in the Toowoomba community. She is the CEO of Student Guild at the University of Southern Queensland and the Owner and Director of Bonjour Toowoomba Language Centre.
Farhan was sixteen when he and his family arrived in Australia as refugees from Iraq in 2018. With little English spoken in the family, Farhan set out quickly to learn English to help support his family. In just under 3 years Farhan has graduated from high school and is now at the University of Southern Queensland working towards a law degree. Join our conversation today as we witness the determination of a young man who has turned a difficult past into a bright future, and teaches us that relationships between Australians and his community can be built beyond language.
In this episode we sit down with Victoria Wilson — Manager, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Languages & Learning, USQ College, USQ.
Meet Banyas in this episode of “Who is My Neighbor”, as we discover the little actions we can take to get to know each other better and how you can join us in the Bike to Belong Challenge coming up this World Refugee Week — June 13-20, 2021.
Jude Kalman is an independent film maker from the Gold Coast whose documentaries have featured nationally on Channel Nine, at the 2017 Gold Coast Film Festival, and the 2019 LAMPA International Film Festival (Russia). In this episode, you will learn about her experiences growing with refugee parents who came to Australia from Hungary and the passion she has to tell the inspirational stories of refugees today.
Meet Kemo. A former teacher from Northern Iraq, Kemo arrived in Australia with his family as refugees just over one year ago. In this episode Kemo shares about his life back home in Iraq to the new life he and his family have created here in Australia. Kemo has the heart to keep teaching. Even from this new land, he is still able to talk, listen and teach the students he left behind in Iraq.
Coming from North Syria, Sorgal arrived in Australia as a refugee in 2018. Sorgal studies International Relations at SQU and since arriving has provided immense support to other refugees and their settling process through translating and interpreting. Sorgal shares with us her own story of fleeing Syria to arriving here in Australia, 4 years later. She tells us that settling in a culture and way of life is difficult, she had no idea where her power came from. Now she wants to help others find their way as they discover home here in Australia.
Warren has spent many years living in different cultures and learning new languages. He has been teaching English as a second language for over 25 years, and 12 of those spent in Japan with his family. Warren now works with YouBelong teaching English to newly arrived refugees in a way that's fun and conversational. Join Warren and Tim in this conversation and understand for yourself that language is more than just words and grammar.