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 October 2009
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NEWS AND VIEWS
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WHAT ROLE DOES SPORT PLAY IN THE SETTLEMENT PROCESS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES?
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A case study from CMY’s Sport and Recreation Project Officer, Nick MacHale
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Nabil’s story
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 To represent your country is the dream of every young girl or boy who plays sport. This dream has now become reality for one Iraqi-Australian. In September of this year, Nabil Hermiz pulled on the green and gold of Australia in Milan, Italy, to take part in the Street Soccer World Cup.
Three months ago, when CMY’s Sports and Recreation Project Officer invited Nabil to join The Big Issue’s Broadmeadows Street Soccer program, he jumped at the opportunity. His commitment to the program, sense of team work and football ability saw him selected to represent the Victorian Metro team in the recent National Championships. Vic Metro took the overall title and Nabil was nicknamed ‘Ronaldo’ by his team mates, a nickname he’s very happy with! Nabil impressed more than just his team mates at the tournament though; the coaches took note of his skills and his ability to work with others, and these attributes guaranteed his spot in the Australian Street Soccer squad.
Of course, this football dream started many years earlier. Through all the upheaval and change in Nabil’s life, there has been one constant, football. Nabil’s passion for the game was instilled in him from an early age. In Iraq, football is revered by all people from all cultural and religious backgrounds. Every day after school, a game of football would begin in his neighbourhood. These games did not take place on beautiful green fields – this is football in its purest form, on the streets! With the pride of the neighbourhood at stake Nabil and his friends would use their creativity and abundance of skills to trick and beat their opponents, the object being to use the most audacious tricks you could pull off to pass your opponent and score a goal.
With the onset of war in Iraq, Nabil and his family sought asylum in Syria. They spent a difficult two and a half years there before coming to Australia. Like many young people who flee from conflict, Nabil’s education had been severely disrupted. He arrived to a country he did not know, a language he could not speak and a culture he did not quite understand. Nabil’s family settled in Meadow Heights, Melbourne. He began to learn English at the Broadmeadows English Language Centre; a slow and frustrating process at times. He spent one year at the language centre under the guidance of some of Melbourne’s most passionate ESL teachers. During this time studying at the centre, he was fortunate enough to make two good friends, Hussam and Hans, who are also Assyrian Iraqis.
The three young men formed a strong friendship in the ensuing years, supporting each other as they traverse the many obstacles they faced to settle in Melbourne. When they completed their year at the language centre, the three friends continued their education at Kangan Batman TAFE’s Broadmeadows campus, in its ESL VCAL program.
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Hussam and Hans share Nabil’s passion for football; however they were all struggling to find an environment where they could express themselves through their sport. While studying at the TAFE, the three boys joined the Hume Futsal program through CMY’s Sports and Recreation Project Officer.
| More positive outcomes
| Through the Hume Futsal program, CMY linked the boys with the Brunswick Zebras Soccer Club. The Zebras created a coaching program specifically for newly arrived young people, funded by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. The program ran over seven weeks and led to participants acquiring their Football Federation Victoria Junior Coaching licences. Nabil received his coaching licence and is now coaching the Zebra’s under-10s, putting the kids through their paces every Saturday morning.
As Nabil’s coaching career began to blossom, we discussed the opportunity for him, Hans and Hussam to volunteer at Hume Futsal, to help coach the younger players and also to do some refereeing. This has been a great success for their personal and professional development as well as the sustainability of the program. They have been great role models for all the participants (80% of which are less than five years in Australia), showing maturity and skills well beyond their years.
In May of this year, the boys had a work placement requirement for their VCAL course. We proposed running a six week coaching program at Broadmeadows English Language Centre. Due to funding restrictions and a lack of facilities at the language centre, there has been no active recreation program for the eighty-plus students attending every term. As ex-students of the centre, the boys felt a great sense of pride and achievement in returning to the centre to deliver the coaching program (delivered completely through English!). They felt it was important to give something back to those that had helped them when they arrived.
This program has been so successful that Nabil and Hans will continue the coaching sessions this term, as well as beginning to work at the centre for one day a week as teacher’s aides.
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| | The Hume Futsal Program
| The Hume Futsal program is designed specifically to remove or lessen the impact of barriers to participation in sports for newly arrived young people. It is a low cost, community-based indoor soccer program that offers young people the opportunity to participate in organised sports in their local area. The program is a partnership project between CMY, Arabic Welfare, Banksia Gardens Community Centre, Meadow Heights Learning Shop, Dallas Neighbourhood House, Victorian Arabic Social Services, Football Federation Victoria and Victoria Police. The program is financially supported by VicHealth, Hume City Council and the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court.
Research has shown that newly arrived young people have the lowest participation rates in organised sports ('Playing for the Future', Olliff 2007). Some of the barriers preventing participation may include:
| - Financial, such as registration fees, equipment and competition/venue fees;
| | | | - Lack of knowledge about sports in Australia.
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| Some of the Hume Futsal program highlights include:
| - Over 50 participants each week
| - Strong partnership between all stakeholder organisations
| - Youth workers available every week to support settlement process
| - 80% of participants are residing in Australia less than five years
| - 30% of participants residing in Australia less than one year
| - 75% of participants come from an Arabic speaking background
| - The program has a mixed program as well as a separate girls program
| - Five participants have recently completed their Football Federation Victoria junior coaching licence
| - One participant is now a paid employee as the program’s football co-ordinator
| - Three participants are now volunteering in the program as assistant coaches
| - One of the girls’ teams recently took part in their first sporting tournament
| - Both the boys and girls are now designing their own t-shirts and team names/logos
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Nabil is very excited and extremely proud to be representing Australia in the World Cup. It has been an incredible journey for Nabil to reach Australia and I have had the pleasure to watch his personal development over the past year. It is very clear that sport has played a pivotal role in Nabil’s settlement in Australia. It has helped him learn English, increased his confidence and importantly opened up many new social networks which continue to offer him wonderful opportunities in his life.
I recently asked Nabil if he made any new friends at The Big Issue Street Soccer National Championships, he replied “they are all my friends now!”
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Human Rights recommendations released
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After the consultation process of earlier this year, the National Human Rights Consultation Committee has presented its report to the Federal Government. You can take a look at the report online, or download sections of it in Word and PDF format.
The government response has been positive – though Robert McLelland, federal Attorney-General, has not committed the Government to implementing a Human Rights Act just yet, he has stated that the Government would consider all the report’s recommendations when formulating its response.
The various human rights bodies around the country have welcomed the report’s findings, and urged the Government to implement a Human Rights Act. Cathy Branson QC, on behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission, did express disappointment at the report’s treatment of economic, social and cultural rights.
“These rights, such as the right to the highest attainable standard of health care, adequate housing and education, touch the every day lives of all Australians… As the report details, these issues were consistently raised across the country as major areas of concern. They should not be treated differently from other human rights.”
(source: AHRC media release, 8 October 2009; VEOHRC media release, 8 October 2009)
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Changes at VEOHRC
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The recent media debate around the review of Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act has overshadowed some governance changes that have taken place at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. Dr Helen Szoke, who has served as the CEO at the Commission since 2004, has been appointed by the Attorney-General to be the inaugural Commissioner and Chair of the Commission.
She will be joined by a four person board comprising Joumanah El Matrah (Executive Director of the Islamic Welfare Council of Victoria), Jason Mifsud (CEO of Australian Football League Foundation), Dr Paula Gerber (Deputy Director of the Castan Centre) and Brendan Gale (CEO of Richmond Football Club). It’s hoped that the broad range of skills possessed by the new board members should help the Commission in its efforts to tackle system discrimination.
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(source: VEOHRC website, 29 September 2009)
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New directions in youth policy
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Another new development lost in the media din was ‘Helping young Australians build their own futures’, a blog post on the Prime Minister’s website that foreshadows a shift in youth policy. The post reveals that the Federal Government is working on a ‘plan for young Australians – with young Australians’, and then asked for responses via the blog comments box. Topics mentioned by Mr Rudd might suggest the areas in the Government’s sights, though – mental health, obesity, street violence, and the fragmented nature of youth programs across government and community organisations.
The youth blog received over 400 responses, though one rather caustic article in The Age thinks that there’s ‘no point pretending he will magically turn the comments posted on the youth blog into policy.’
A follow-up media release from the Minister for Youth has added more detail on the ways in which young people and the wider public can have input on the new policy direction. The 'National Conversation', as it has been termed, begins in late October. Young people are encouraged to voice their ideas through the Australian Youth Forum (AYF) website; host their own forums with the aid of a toolkit on the AYF website; and take part in online forums via the AYF or the Inspire Foundation, among other options. Visit the National Conversation section on the AYF website for a full list.
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(source: Minister for Youth media release, 22 October 2009)
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WHAT'S NEW AT CMY?
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Voices of Young Australians project wins award
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Great news from the 2009 Diversity@Work Awards, where the Voices of Young Australians: Uniting for Social Cohesion project claimed the prize for small organisations in the 'Today’s Youth - the Future of Tomorrow' category.
The Voices of Young Australians: Uniting for Social Cohesion program works with young people from diverse backgrounds on youth-led anti-discrimination initiatives in their schools and community.This program is coordinated by CMY, with funding from the Scanlon Foundation and auspiced by the Australian Multicultural Foundation. Currently in its third year of delivery, the program is currently being delivered in partnership with Melton Shire Council Youth Services.
To date, the program has engaged over 50 multicultural young leaders from the Cities of Hume, Whittlesea and the Shire of Melton, who have developed and delivered nine youth-led initiatives that aim to promote respect and understanding of difference and diversity. These youth-led initiatives include two Youth Dialogue Forums addressing racism and discrimination; a multicultural fashion show; a multicultural youth camp; The Amazin' Race Caroline Springs; an Anti-Discrimination School Charter; a multicultural youth radio show; a Youth Multifaith Forum; and an anti-discrimination comedy event.
Youth-led initiatives provided the young leaders with the opportunity to develop leadership skills and make a contribution to addressing issues of racism and discrimination within their community. Congratulations to everybody involved in the project!
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Volunteering at CMY
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Are you looking to help young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds with your own skills and expertise? If so, you may be interested in one of several opportunities to volunteer with CMY projects.
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Volunteer with young people in the Ucan2 program - Volunteers are encouraged to share their knowledge, experience and skills with newly arrived young people and help them develop the skills required to transition from the English language centre into mainstream society, and to balance commitments of work, study, family, friends and community. Ucan2 is currently seeking new volunteers – visit the Ucan2 section for an application form and more information.
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Volunteering with Learning Beyond the Bell – CMY’s Learning Beyond the Bell project is looking for committed volunteers to assist students from refugee and migrant backgrounds in Out of School Hours Learning Support Programs (OSHLSPs) across Victoria. OSHLSP tutors work with primary and secondary students who require additional learning support outside school hours. Interested in volunteering with an OSHLSP program? Visit the Volunteer section and apply through the online form, or check out the Learning Beyond the Bell section for more information on the project.
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Provide support to young people in police custody – The Youth Referral and Independent Person Program (YRIPP) is seeking committed volunteers to assist young people at police stations throughout Victoria. Independent Persons are volunteers who attend police interviews with a young person when a parent or guardian is not available. The role provides an important opportunity to support young people at a critical time and hilep divert those at risk of further offending. Visit the YRIPP website to learn more.
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Mentor young people in the BRIC Program - The Building Relationships and Initiating Change (BRIC) Program aims to support groups/committees/networks/associations of young people from newly arrived and culturally and linguistically diverse communities through mentoring to facilitate skill and knowledge development. Volunteer BRIC Mentors will share their skills, knowledge and experiences with young people to further develop the capacity of their youth-groups and/or youth-led initiatives. See the BRIC section for more information.
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New Resources: Sports Tip Sheets
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CMY’s Sport and Recreation Team presents two new Sports Tip Sheets for use by the sector.
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Tip Sheet 13 is based in the ‘Fair Play: Kicking Conflict Out Of Sport’ meeting held earlier in the year, and features content from YMCA Youth Services on identifying and resolving conflicts, with example scenarios provided.
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 download (2.6MB)
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Tip Sheet 14, ‘Emerging communities are sporting communities’, shares the sporting experiences from newly-arrived young people from Iraqi, Karen Burmese and Chin Burmese communities.
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download (2.5MB)
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CMY introduces new trainer
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Belinda Joseph has joined CMY as a full time dedicated trainer for the settlement, youth and sports sectors. She has previously worked with Victoria University and AMES, and brings a strong background in teaching and commitment to issues facing newly arrived and refugee background young people.
Belinda is happy to talk to you regarding your organisation’s training needs and tailor training so they are met. Please contact CMY for more information on (03) 9340 3700, or email bjoseph@cmy.net.au for further information or to explore your training needs. You can also take a look at the Professional Development section of the CMY website.
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YOUNG VOICES
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Faten Mohamed has just finished a three-year stint with CMY as a Youth Project Officer.
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You recently attended the filming of the SBS ‘Insight’ program that looked at the Australian Somali community in the wake of the ‘terrorist’ arrests in August. However, you didn’t speak about the issue on camera. Why?
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A lot of young people went to the show thinking that they’d be talking about their personal experiences, of being Australian, Somali or Muslim. Like many of them, I thought they were looking for our personal experiences. In particular how life has been for young people since the raids and arrests that occurred… But the questions were very focused on the idea of radicalism in Muslim communities, more specifically within the Somali community. A lot of the young people were shocked by that; we didn’t think it was something that was going to be talked about, because it has legal implications in the current situation.
People are making the assumption that those young people are radicalised, but that’s not for me to discuss – it should be left to the courts. I’d prefer to talk about my experiences as a Muslim Australian – some of the positives, and some of the things that can be improved on. Also I noticed that a lot of the community elders – who I have a lot of respect for – got more opportunities to speak than the young people. For some of the young people in the room, it was a bit disempowering; you’re told that you’ll have an opportunity to speak, but you’re not given one.
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You’re about to leave CMY after three and a half years of working here. Do you think the media’s treatment of issues involving young people from different backgrounds has got better or worse?
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I’ve seen a little bit of progress. Some organisations do a lot of good work in the media utilising young people, like the Islamic Council of Victoria - young people are often their spokespeople, and they engage the media and other grassroots organisations as well. But with something as sensitive and complex as legal cases in the current climate, it’s more challenging. A lot of people can be afraid to come out and speak, as what they might say may hinder the process. I’ve felt that, in recent years, cases that should be left to the courts are being ‘litigated’ in the media. The cases have been dealt with publicly when it should be dealt with though the courts.
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Do you think this type of thing can affect the trust that young people have of the media?
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To their credit, a lot of the Insight production team including the host did stick around to talk to the young people after filming and ask how they thought it had gone. But to be honest I feel that a lot of the young people who’ve been misquoted in the media in the past, or been asked to have a say and then not gotten the opportunity, are losing faith in the media as a whole. They’ve lost interest and they don’t want to engage with the media, but we do need to engage with the media. It’s meant to be there for the community, and to provide a balanced and equal view on topics and issues. If young people are now less interested in engaging, there’ll be less people willing to give balance to these stories. The media coverage will be very one-sided.
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Many young people seem to have taken up the various forms of social media now – perhaps as a result of this type of thing happening.
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That’s it – as soon as any big story breaks now, everybody else is on Facebook to talk about it. People have blogs, people write things, using Twitter… they use different media, but it’s a shame they can’t engage with traditional print, TV or radio. It seems that when the issues affect young people, they don’t get to speak – it’s always elders and workers, I think young people are more than capable of speaking for themselves.
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE SECTOR
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Details of upcoming events, conferences and new resources in the multicultural youth sector. If you have an event or resource you want promoted through CMY Digest, please send details to info@cmy.net.au
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A regularly-updated list of new resources and upcoming events in the multicultural youth sector
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IN THE MEDIA
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Multicultural youth issues in the media – what are some of the issues that are making it into the news? If you come across media articles you think should be highlighted in this newsletter, please forward to info@cmy.net.au
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It's deja vu as 'those people' still cry for help (The Age newspaper, 20 October 2009)
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Cliches and prejudice supplant facts, again, in the asylum seeker debate.
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> read the article at The Age website
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Silence about immigration raises fears (The Age, 3 September 2009)
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Dr Gwenda Tavan, senior lecturer in politics at La Trobe University, argues that the Federal Government should openly declare a vision for immigration in Australia, and maintain a dialogue with the public on its aims.
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> read the article at The Age website
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It's time to reclaim patriotism from the racist narcissists (The Age, 1 September 2009)
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Political theorist Tim Soutphommasane argues for a different form of Australian patriotism.
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> read the article at The Age website
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A battered faith (The Age, 6 August 2009)
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An insight into the Somali community’s reaction to the recent arrests
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> read the article at The Age website
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