Settlement Services International (SSI) case worker Nedhal Amir has been recognised as a finalist in the 2015 Migration and Settlement Awards for her ongoing commitment to supporting new migrants and refugees living in Australia.

SSI welcomed the Sticky Beak Tour, an initiative of the Inner West Child & Family Interagency, to its head office in Ashfield this week. The tour was part of an initiative to promote interaction and professional exchange between community services providers located in Sydney’s Inner West. 

They say home is where the heart is, and for people seeking asylum in Australia this can be a difficult question to answer. For most of them, ‘home’ oscillates between the memories of the homeland they left behind and of a new place that is unknown but filled with hope.

To celebrate World Refugee Day on Saturday, June 20, 2015, SSI was host to the inaugural New Beginnings: Refugee Arts and Culture Festival, which showcased the talents of refugees and asylum seekers in the community.

A week with Dr Ernesto Sirolli has enhanced the knowledge and skills of SSI staff, bilingual guides, and current entrepreneurs working with the Ignite Small Business Start-ups (Ignite) initiative who all undertook  Enterprise Facilitation training.

Twelve staff from SSI attended Northcott’s inaugural Cultural Competency in Diversity Conference last week held in Parramatta. The focus of the two day event was to introduce an innovative model of cultural competency for the disability sector in NSW, with the launch of the Cultural Diversity Competency Framework (CDCF) and a range of tools to assist disability service providers to be more culturally competent when working with people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.

Migrants from Western Europe who arrived in the "50s and "60s in Australia were seen with hostility and suspicion by many in the local community. These are now well-settled communities but as new comers, they struggled to fit in. 

Sefullah is from the Iranian village of Palk Lak of Arkvazi, in the Illam Province, where he lived before making his journey to Australia. Sefullah is a self-taught artist, who researches different styles of painting and schools of thought. 

Mohammed is a multi-disciplinary artist working in the areas of photography, performance and graphic design.  Mohammed lived in Iraq where he obtained a degree in theatre performance from Basra's College of Arts. In Baghdad, he had his own studio and appeared in a number of productions and radio plays.

Settlement Services International (SSI) has joined forces with the Women Empowering Refugee Women (WERW) volunteer group to organise a social event at Sydney’s Opera House for a number of SSI clients and their families.

Mohanad was born in Nasiriyah, Iraq. He started painting when he was six as he was encouraged by his grandfather, who bought painting material for him. After graduating from the Arts & Carving Institute in Iraq, Mohanad moved to Syria where he kept painting, drawing and showing his works in several exhibitions.

Mahdi, who was born in Iran, has a passion for calligraphy, creative writing and painting. After finishing school, Mahdi began painting and decorating city walls in Iran where he enjoyed turning dull city walls into colourful and bright themes.

Hayder completed a BA in Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad, in his native Iraq, in 2008. From 2009 to 2011, he worked as an art teacher with the Ministry of Education of Iraq.

Settlement Services International (SSI) today announced education scholarships worth $60,000 as part of the launch of the new SSI Foundation. Formerly known as the Connect Australia Foundation, the SSI Foundation introduces more categories of support and increased amounts distributed.

Farid was born in Tehran. He started painting at the age of 4, after his mother noticed a creative streak in him. He graduated with a Civil Aviation degree in Iran before arriving in Australia in 2013 with his wife and children. 

Damon began his photographic journey more than 20 years ago with his father’s old Konica camera in Iran. He started experimenting by taking images of nature, people and his surroundings.

Babak was born in Iran where he completed a BA in Graphic Design. His special interests are painting, sculpture, music and graphic design.

July was a big month for SSI, with several new programs starting, but the 12 month anniversary of Ability Links NSW has stood out for me as being particularly significant and emblematic of the organisation’s future. Many great stories have come from this program in a short space of time; here are just a couple of randomly selected examples.

“Australia must and can be better than this” Following the weekend’s events when prominent Aboriginal AFL player and former Australian of the Year, Adam Goodes was booed at every turn during the Swans v West Coast Eagles AFL match.

Every Friday for the last nine weeks, morning commuters have bustled through Circular Quay on their way to work, oblivious to a group of men dressed in gardening clothes and walking shoes who excitedly await their ferry.