A creative outlet, aimed at promoting positive community engagement and individual empowerment will be provided for newly settled refugee children in Wyndham in March thanks to Melbourne based NGO Aware.
Aware’s Creative Sparks Program in 2013 will build on the success of the program achieved in 2012 in partnership with the Werribee refugee advocacy and welfare agency the New Hope Foundation.
Creative Sparks is a series of free, arts-based workshops that provide a safe and social space in Melbourne's outer suburbs for children from refugee backgrounds to access creative outlets. The project aims to improve the quality of life for participants and promote positive relationships between participants, their peers and the community.
Project participants in 2012 were largely from the Karen community of Southern Burma aged between 5-10 years. There is a growing Karen community within the Western region of Melbourne and the New Hope Foundation works to provide settlement support to newly arrived refugees and migrants during their first five years in Australia.
In partnership with Aware, the New Hope Foundation will continue to support the integration and sense of community to newly settled refugee children by providing a working space for the Creative Sparks program in 2013.
The project’s longevity in 2013 was assured with funds donated from Grill’d’s ‘Local Matters’ community donation program in November. ‘Local Matters’ provides much needed funds for community based organisations throughout Melbourne.
Aware is a unique not-for-profit Melbourne based organisation committed to bringing about positive change in the lives of disadvantaged women and young people, through the medium of art. Aware works locally and internationally to facilitate positive change with communities through self-expression.
To find out more about Aware’s projects and for volunteer opportunities visit;
http://www.awareglobal.org
More information about the New Hope Foundation can also be found at;
http://www.newhope.asn.au/
By Louella Fitzsimmons (Louellafitzsimmons@gmail.com)