Circle of Friends Australia Inc.
Supporting asylum seekers and refugees
written by Bob Wilson, COFA committee Photo: Volunteer Dave Reynolds and learner driver Samira Dave did not set out to become a driving instructor. He set out to retire. After a working life that took him through ministry, customer service, and international consulting across several countries, he found himself restless in the early months of retirement. He wanted something hands-on. …
Circle of Friend has recently received two lovely thank you messages which are shared below as this is as much a thank you to all our donors and supporters as is it is to the volunteers in Circle of Friends.
Message 1
Hamid (name changed for privacy) has been financially supported (rent, medical and living expense) by the Emergency Response Circle, SOS for Refugees Circle and the Willunga Circle for several years. He is one of the small number of people, not on Nauru or Manus Island, who recently received there Resolution of Status (ROS) Visa and has now found a job.
This is the heartfelt email Circle of Friends received from him.
Subject: Thankful for the helping
Hi Circle of friends group
I hope you are all doing well.
I wanted to sincerely thank you for all the support you have given me over the past months. When I was going through a very difficult time without a visa and without work, your kindness and generosity made a huge difference in my life. I will never forget the help and compassion you showed me. I am truly grateful to every one of you.
I’m happy to let you know that I started a new job. Because of this, I no longer need the ongoing payments, and I would like to ask you to stop them after one final payment, if possible.
The only reason I’m asking for one last payment is that my new job pays monthly, and I won’t receive my first salary until the end of this month. One final payment would help me get through until then. After that, I will be financially independent and won’t require any further assistance.
Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for everything you have done for me. Your support has helped me through one of the hardest periods of my life, and I will always remember your kindness.
With sincere gratitude,
Hamid (name changed for privacy)
Message 2
An Afghani mother of four has been trying to save from her Centrelink income to bring her husband to Australia. She was $4,000 short of his Visa costs and feeling hopeless and discouraged. Her counsellor at STTARRS contacted the Emergency Response Circle to see if Circle of Friends could help. An appeal was sent out and three Circles responded – Willunga, Blackwood-Hills and Wayville. Between them they contributed the total amount.
This is the heartfelt message received via her STTARRS worker:
“Please thank them for us and tell them that I pray for them, to bless them for being a helpful hand for me”
We currently support 70 adults and 40 children in Jakarta at a cost of ~$8000 per month (a doubling of cost since June when another wave of refugees camping in front of the UNHCR were threatened with detention). We rapidly responded and stretched ourselves to support them. As such with the current number of people we are supporting we will run out of reserves in October.
Our immediate dilemma is how to continue support to these otherwise destitute refugees. You can help by making a donation (indicate donation is for Forgotten Refugees Circle (Circle 139).
Jakarta is a city of great contrasts and is the largest city in the world (Greater Jakarta has a population of ~48 million) with all the trappings of a rapidly developing nation. I was amazed by the view from the roof-top of our hotel when I last visited in July last year. The Jakarta skyline is dominated by all the major international banks and financial institutions.
Living in the shadows without support or work rights are a community of refugees from many of the well-known conflicts in Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. Since mid-2024 we have visited annually and with the help of friends sought to house and provide a meagre allowance to give dignity to this cohort of otherwise unsupported refugees.
Our committed monthly donor income is now generally about $3600, having sadly lost a key supporter who died suddenly in late July. Carol communicated regularly and directly with people she supported through the Circle and elsewhere in Pakistan and Cox’s Bazar. She is sadly missed by the refugee community as by her friends. Whilst it is not appropriate to focus on her loss in financial terms, she regularly supported us at $900/month.
We now have a gap between donor income and costs of a bit over $4k/month. To date we have been meeting this shortfall by drawing down on our reserve funds raised through our Circle launch event in May plus June end of financial year campaign.Still we are now on track to run out of reserves in October.
We are looking at ways to reduce our costs by renting large houses or other buildings that refugees can share. If we cannot both significantly increase our support base and reduce costs we will have no option but to return many of these people back to the street. This is not a decision we will take lightly but endeavour to continue providing a small food allowance.
Can you help to sustain this important work? Make a donation now.
For more information or to join please contact us via Ralph.
After the successful first outing of parkrunners/walkers on the World Refugee Day on June 20th, another Saturday morning event has been organised by Justice for Refugees SA. Please share among the refugees, migrants and people seeking asylum in your friendship orbit.
By Meredith Edwards, Chair of Justice for Refugees SA
It is often hard for people who have recently arrived in Australia to know how to link in with mainstream Australian weekend activities. Following the example of Sanctuary Runners in Ireland and the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), Justice for Refugees SA trialled a Parkrun at Carisbrooke Park in Salisbury North on Saturday 20th June. This event was held to coincide with World Refugee Day.
We invited recent migrants, refugees and supporters to run or walk together with regular participants on the 5km Parkrun, which set out at 8am. We had a great turn out on the day, with an extra 40 or more people attending. Some ran, some walked the 5km and all were noticeable thanks to donation of Sanctuary Runners T-shirts by RCOA. What was also noticeable was the welcoming smiles and encouraging comments by regular parkrunners. The smiles on the faces of all participants was also noticeable. This is what encouraging a sense of belonging is about. All walkers and runners were greeted at the end with special cupcakes. We are hoping that enough people will want to join future events so we can establish a “Sanctuary Runners” group in Adelaide.
This successful event would not have happened without the collaboration and support of the City of Salisbury, Jonathan Morgan the director of the Carisbrooke Parkrun on the day, Circle of Friends Australia (COFA) and Welcoming Australia. Thank you to all who helped make this event happen. “Sanctuary Runners” was established by a group of runners and walkers in Ireland as a way to include refugees and recent migrants to participate in a mainstream community activity. Paul Power, the CEO of the Refugee Council of Australia established the first of the Sanctuary Runners in Australia to connect people through exercise and friendship. We also thank Paul for his help in organising the event.
Please think about getting involved and/or encouraging others. If there is enough interest, we will hold a walk or run together, initially once a month as Sanctuary Runners. I still have T-shirts available and we can order more.
You can contact me, Meredith Edwards, on the Justice for Refugees SA email or by phone 0458595648.
You can directly register for Sanctuary Runners via this link.
For more information on Sanctuary Runners click here.
