A Christmas Message
My Mum passed away a year ago at 98. Not long before, she had magnets made for everyone that said "Christmas is the key to the future' This year It hit me that the Christmas story of a baby born to a homeless refugee family destined to bring A Christmas message, Peace to the earth, changes what we value in this sad old world whatever belief system we follow.
Decisions made from a Christmas value base are the key to a future where we care for each other and our aching planet.
In these last days of a hard hard year , as the mountains burn around us let us be grateful for the faithfulness of those who live by these Christmas values.
Ocean 12 – Who Are We? Part 3
Congratulations Ocean 12 winner of Last Man Stands (LMS) Australian Championship 2019.
It still seems impossible to believe that all those years ago this group of traumatised men who played cricket appallingly have achieved so much. They still manage to shelve their worries and fears and show their amazing ability as a team which has rocked the world of 20/20 cricket. They will compete in the World Champs in Sydney in December.
Two young men, two very different stories. Who Are We? Part 2
Two young men, both left their home countries aged 3. Both now call the Blue Mountains home and are part of the BMRSG community. But two very different stories.
Read part 2 in our series Who Are We?
Who Are We?
First of a series of posts on some of the wide range of people who make up Blue Mountains Support Group Inc.
Our promotion says ""Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group Inc is a diverse group of ordinary Australians from all sides of politics....We are all volunteers."
Some of our most enthusiastic supporters are young people. Read two accounts of young people who are helping; the Automotive Studies students at Blaxland High School and Sam who raised over $1100 by running in the City to Surf 2018.
Carrots and Courage Against Despair
Despite suffering under Australia’s soul-destroying indefinite detention regime, one young asylum seeker who has been locked up for years has developed a... Read More
RICHARD FLANAGAN. Have we, Australia, become a country that breeds mass murderers with our words?
In this speech given at the Palm Sunday Rally for Refugees, Richard Flanagan says we are better than our politicians’ dark fears
Tibetan flag flies high outside council
History was made Friday morning when the Tibetan flag was raised outside Blue Mountains Council chambers at Katoomba.
It is the first time in Australia a Tibetan flag has been flown outside a local council chamber.
The small but vocal Tibetan community cheered and sang their national song as Dhongdue Kyinzom, a member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile and Cr Kerry Brown did the honours.
Gardening in extremely difficult circumstances
A young man who came to Australia seeking asylum, but who has been detained in different facilities across the country, has become... Read More
BMRSG Works – A Team Effort
A positive warm hearted story of a need identified by one of the BMRSG Community visitors, of a family in a house with no furniture and a new baby still in hospital, a timely offer of furniture and a feat or organisation by a number of BMRSG volunteers. #BMRSGHelps
Local Tibetans thank the Blue Mountains community with a cultural celebration for Dalai Lama’s 83rd Birthday
Blue Mountains locals were welcomed to a traditional Tibetan cultural celebration to commemorate the 14th Dalai Lama’s 83rd birthday last Friday at the old library in Katoomba.
The event gave exiled Tibetans living in the Blue Mountains an opportunity to thank the Blue Mountains community and celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday with the taste, colour, music and dance of Tibet.
There are approximately 50 Tibetan adults and children living in the Blue Mountains and many arrived in Australia on humanitarian visas. All of them are refugees or children of refugees who fled Tibet after the Chinese occupation in 1950 and made the long trek over the Himalayas to reach safety in Nepal.
The first Tibetan refugee settled in Katoomba nine years ago and others arrived after the Dalai Lama visited the Blue Mountains in 2015. In the last six months some families have arrived directly from India on humanitarian visas. Ms Dhongdue praised the local community saying that Tibetan refugees had been ‘embraced with warmth and love’.