Blue Mountains Welcome Way – Videos for #WorldRefugeeDay
Guy Power, advocate and community visitor made this video of the members of the Glenbrook with their signs at Glenbrook.
Blue Mountains Welcome Way on World Refugee Day 2020
Members of Blue Mountains Support Group celebrate World Refugee Day 2020 by creating a virtual Welcome Way. We shared photos and ourselves and our families at home and in our community.
We posted our images online and on our fences. We all did it in our own way.
Watch this post as ore images will be posted during World Refugee Day 2020
A Refugee Week Message from the Traditional Owners
The Blue Mountains City Council Aboriginal Advisory Council (AAC) have said that they “support the idea to recognise International Refugee Day through events particularly highlighting some of the extremely difficult challenges faced by refugees.”
This is a powerful message of fellow feeling coming from a people who experience continued dispossession and racism
Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group would like to thank the ACC for their gracious response.
Marie Standen’s refugee advocacy recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours
On Monday, Marie Standen from Faulconbridge was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for service to refugees, and to the community of the Blue Mountains.
"I must admit it's a great honour, there isn't any doubt about that," she said.
The 89-year-old is enormously pleased with the group's accomplishments over the years.
They visit refugees in Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, and through extensive fundraising they have been able to help refugees settling in the community with the cost of education, paying bills, or replacing worn out clothes or shoes, or when their children might be in need of new glasses.
COVID-19 and BMRSG’s Response
Like everyone else the BMRSG community faced huge challenges when we were told to self isolate. But the refugees on various temporary visas faced much greater challenges. Distressing stories are coming through all the time about situations where jobs have been lost; people have been exposed to COVID 19 and expected to self isolate in crowded accommodation. Those on bridging visas, and that is most households we visit, have virtually no Covid19 related entitlements or general Centrelink access. They also may or may not have Medicare entitlements