Category: Circle Stories

At the AGM earlier this year the various Circles shared updates on their work. Here are a couple of success stories from Circles who have been supporting refugee families.

Family from South America settling into life in Australia

Carol Collin reports that members of the Willunga Circle first started visiting a  mother and her four children, refugees from a South American country, last year when they lived in a cold flat in the city. At the end of last year they moved to an old house north-west of the city, and are now very happy.  They like this area very much as it is quiet with some nice parks and good bus services.

The eldest child is doing well at school, has made friends and now has a part-time job at Enzo’s at Home (Italian pre-made pasta dishes). The business has been very supportive and has been giving him hours that fit in with his school work. He says it’s a great place to work and that there are other Spanish speaking people working there. Apparently Enzo’s products can be bought at IGA!

The other children are also happy at school. The eldest daughter would like to do nursing and then perhaps become a doctor. The three-year old goes to a creche at TAFE while Mum tries hard – but is finding it difficult – to learn English. Of course, her 3 year old’s English is good and improving rapidly.

As Carol says, all in all, they are now a happy well-settled family.

Family from Sri Lanka reunited and on their way to self-sufficiency

A Sri Lankan family who arrived by boat many years ago have endured a long period of great hardship but are now finally starting to make a life for themselves.

Around 5 years ago, a desperate worker from Red Cross contacted  the Rapid Response Circle  as the father of the family was in detention and the support payment entitlement provided to the mother, S. and the 4 children was about to be cut. With no way to cover living expenses S and her children were in danger of having to live on the streets, despite receiving considerable help from the Effective Living Centre Circle.

S’s husband, in detention, tried his best to find somewhere for his wife and children to live. Initially they were able to share a house with the husband’s brother, sister-in-law and three children. They then all moved to a farmhouse in the country after the brother-in-law managed to find work on the farm, and S and her children continued to be supported by Rapid Response Circle and the Willunga Circle.

This living arrangement, however, was not sustainable, given the number of people in the house. Helped by a small Church community, S and her children returned to suburban Adelaide and were allowed to live for two years in a small Church hall, having to pack up their belongings every week when church services took place.

Both Circle of Friends and the Vinnies Refugee and Asylum Seeker Service in Kilburn continued to help S and her family. S managed to study and now has a qualification in Aged Care. She is actively looking for work but struggles due to the written language requirements of the job. Further English language tuition may be needed.

Without any notice, S’s husband was released from detention, which led to great joy for the whole family. He set out immediately to do some training and find work in order to start supporting the family. He now works approximately four days a week and the family, with the help of Vinnies and an understanding agent, has found a house to rent. They no longer have to live in the Church hall which is a great relief. Visitors to the house are greeted by 2 multi-coloured pots of flowers at the front door.

The family still needs some help to cover their living costs, but it is much reduced and they are on their way to becoming self-sufficient.

This story is a great example of what can be achieved not only be the determination, courage and resilience of the refugee family themselves, but also what happens when different organisations collaborate and work together – in this case, the Church that provided the hall, Circle of Friends, the Vinnies Refugee and Asylum Seeker Service and Red Cross.

As we end the 22nd year of Circles of Friends (founded in May 2002) there is the usual blend of good news and challenges.

Recognition for the vital role of all the volunteers in Circle of Friends Australia
A UniSA PHD Thesis completed in 2023 showed that Circles of Friends continue to occupy a unique support niche.  As was the original goal, the Circles complement what Agencies provide and do so responsibly, with compassion, with a minimum of red tape and in good time.  (Dr Alison Reid, “Band-Aids in a Battlefield.”)

One key component at the core of this undeviating journey is the involvement of people from all walks of life and backgrounds, in whatever way they can contribute, so that a wide, up to date range of information and ideas constantly informs those providing direct services through the Circles.

We need more volunteers
Currently the Rapid Response Circle is looking for 4 -6 new members for a range of roles.  If you are someone who spends a lot of time near their computer, or who is regarded as “houseproud” or “fussy,” or who doesn’t mind 80 km or so round trips to make deliveries, you could be  just the person needed.  For an outline of what is involved in one  of these roles, please contact Tricia Dundon (Convenor of the Rapid Response Circle)

Dire state of Asylum seekers across Australia: How the Rapid Response Circle is helping
Australia wide about 15 000 people seeking asylum are living in deep poverty and facing destitution.  More than 30 000 people who have sought protection in Australia do not have access to Medicare. (Refugee Council of Australia, 2024).

The type of temporary visas that an asylum seekers is on determines critical things like their right to work or study and, for a minority, access to Medicare (basic healthcare).  Amongst the asylum seekers the Rapid Response Circle supports are two men with no right to work or study; the  Circle covers rent and modest living expenses. The Rapid Response Circle also provides living expenses and part rent for two other men and a family of six where all the adults have work rights but remain unemployed.

Generally, the Rapid Response Circle partners with the SOS for Asylum Seekers Circle with the latter paying rent and the Rapid Response Circle paying living expenses and bills.  Expenditure by the Rapid Response Circle, on this cohort of asylum seekers alone, totals at least $4600 each month.  Total monthly expenditure is around $8000 per month.

During April 2024, in our triage role, the Rapid Response Circle received 11 new requests for help from workers at ARA, AMES, STTARS and the Salvation Army City Outreach team. Four were assisted by Blackwood/Hills Circle, Willunga Circle  and St Ignatius Refugee Education Circle.  The Rapid Response Circle responded to the remainder which included (unusually) a CPAP machine for a man with serious cardiac and other health challenges, a mobile phone for a homeless asylum seeker with no bank account or income and a particular heater for a woman with health issues.

Rapid Response Circle’s regular monthly income from donors is around $2000, which is a remarkable amount in the current economic climate in South Australia.  Regular weekly contributions of $5 become $260 over the year or $5720 over the 22 years we have been operating.  This amount, or more, is what some of the founding members of Circle of Friends have contributed. Significant supplementary grants have come from the Suzanne Elliot Trust Fund and, this year, Rapid Response Circle  and SOS for Asylum Seekers Circle each received $10,000 and $5,000 respectively from the Catholic Church Insurances Community Foundation.  A further $5000 from an anonymous donor was an unexpected boost and greatly appreciated.

Every donation, no matter how small it seems, helps build a solid amount of money that enables fast responses to calls for help.  In summer it meant up front motel costs could be paid within hours for a woman with two children who had nowhere to go on a 40-degree day, due to violence from her husband.  During this same burst of hot weather, fans were also purchased and delivered to three mothers unable to keep their babies cool.

As always, thanks to all of you who have contributed in any way to this Circle’s efforts to support asylum seeker and refugees.  Without your involvement it would be impossible.

Hoping 2024 is proving to be a good year for you and there are happy months ahead.

Tricia (Trish) Dundon, Convenor Rapid Response Circle.

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Remembering people who lived in Inverbrackie Detention Centre, Alternative Place of Detention (APOD) near Woodside SA, 2011–2014 and in Pt Augusta Housing (APOD) at Ellis Close, 2012–2013.

Circle of Friends members visited people detained in Inverbrackie over the duration of its operation as a detention centre. Despite the shuffling of some people from Inverbrackie to Pt Augusta Housing APOD and then back to Inverbrackie, Circle of Friends members developed long-lasting friendships with the people they visited.

The detainees were asylum seekers who had arrived by boat at Christmas Island between 2009 – 2012. There were families with babies, toddlers and teenagers, and single people and grandparents. There were pregnant women, some alone, separated from their husbands by Immigration.

Our friends were from Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar and Vietnam. Some Tamil people had previously been detained in a hot and dusty detention centre at Leonora in outback Western Australia prior to arriving at Inverbrackie.

When Inverbrackie was closed some people were granted release on Community Detention visas in Adelaide and other cities. But many were transferred to Wickham Point Detention Centre in the swamps of Palmerston in the Northern Territory. This enormous prison-like centre of razor wire compounds and small rooms was purposely built to contain asylum seekers.  It was a huge shock for people transferred from the unfenced houses and open green grass of Inverbrackie.  We received calls from our friends who were transferred to this centre crying and asking us for help.

A few Tamil women and children were sent to Villawood Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) housing compound in Sydney. Others who had been detained at Pt Augusta Housing from 2012 – 2013 were variously transferred to Darwin Airport Lodge Detention centre (cohort of young Vietnamese people) or Villawood IDC (particularly a cohort of 20 Sri Lankan Tamil men who remained in detention until 2016).  These sudden forced transfers at night or early in the morning, created immense distress.  I continued to visit people in Villawood IDC, and a few Circle of Friends members also visited our friends in Wickham Point IDC (and others in Yongah Hill IDC, Northam, Western Australia).

The people we supported now live in Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane. Some have been granted permanent visas, others have temporary visas, some have short-term or long-term Bridging Visas as they are still being processed by Immigration or are appealing refusal decisions, and at least two families have been denied any documentation by Immigration/DHA.

Four single women, widows each with two or three children, are now living in Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. Three were granted permanent residence and are citizens.  One remains on a Bridging Visa.  All children are either at school, university or working.

The women are typically working in support roles in aged care. These brave mothers fled their homelands when their children were very young, crossed the sea, endured detention and when released they relocated to areas in Australia where friends lived. Their dreams of a safe future for their children have been achieved.

All those permitted to work eventually found employment or established businesses.  They brought to Australia a wide variety of skills, as school teachers; a teacher of traditional music and dance; university lecturers; farmers; a police officer; a spray painter; a construction manager; and musicians. Among them was a nanotechnology scientist; a beauty salon owner and an author.  Some women had only ever worked inside their homes.

To find work in Australia, many took up new occupations as barbers; labourers; truck drivers; café owners; laundry and factory workers, cleaners of parks, gardens and schools, a dental technician; carer and support workers; kitchen hands; a real estate agent; a paramedic; a security guard; a hospital porter and a postman. Others established their own businesses in industrial cleaning; house renovations and building; home maintenance and landscaping; home-made meal and delivery service; beauty salons; mobile market food stalls; security screen installation; fruit and vegetable wholesale and retail.

Some young people who were children in Inverbrackie and Pt Augusta managed to enrol in university through scholarships or after gaining permanent residence, and they are graduates in law, engineering, robotics, dental technology and medical science.

Life goes on – marriages, babies, careers, study, business.  Permanent resident visas are gradually being granted and every couple of weeks someone calls me, “Mum/Sister, I got PR!! When are you coming to see us?”.

Looking back on the 2022-23 Financial Year, Rapid Response Circle (110) has had another busy year,  directly assisting 28 individuals and 16 families and triaging 18 enquiries for help.  Unaddressed trauma was evident in  many people we helped. Sadly we have noticed an increase in referrals of women, often with children, escaping violent situations., with refugees from Syria we noted severe trauma manifested in health and behavioural issues.  Visa situations for many remained very complex and single men with no visa or income continued to appear.  Calls for help with utility costs increased and  it became significantly harder for those relying on $20 per day plus shopping cards to manage.  There are certainly no luxuries there with one smoker resorting to butts out of the bin.

The help we provide has included both direct financial assistance  and provision of household goods and the general support needed when settling into a new country. We have contributed towards living expenses for 27 individuals and 15 families. Of these, nine individuals and four families have needed ongoing support and five men occasional assistance to cover rent.  Thankfully most of the people we assist are also helped by other Circles with rent, bills, car, and phone expenses and four individuals have access to Foodbank.

On the practical side we assisted two women (one with only a sofa and  quilt), and one family, to set their homes up from scratch and a further three individuals needed significant financial and practical help over a short period.   Again we were thankful for the support provided in this by  other Circles and Adelaide Refugee Support volunteers.

We believe that the Government Settlement packages that are supposed to equip recipients with the basics needed for a household to function smoothly need review. To fill in the gaps from these settlement packages we provided warm bedding and clothes to a newly arrived Syrian family of nine.  They also needed large cooking pots and utensils and a second mobile phone so older children out learning English could communicate with a parent.  A second Syrian family of seven, here about 15 months, were in a similar position, but compounded by health problems  which necessitated the  father taking on the role of carer.  In  each instance new and  donated items and shopping cards to buy additional clothing were combined.

In the provision of household items we try where possible to source second hand items and this year these  included  a near new fridge, microwave, electric bed and bedding and walking frame.  While around 90 blankets and warm quilts, all with new or clean, donated covers, were delivered to help people stay warm over winter. Similarly, packages of good recycled and new warm clothing were distributed. We are grateful to Carol Collin from the Willunga Circle who collected more than half of these items.

Significant grants from the Suzanne Elliot Trust Fund and support from Burnside Uniting Church Cares as well as continual contributions from other Circles, individuals and small group donations have kept the Circle in a position to respond to  new and ongoing calls for help while adhering to its principle of “filling gaps” in services available. Thank you to all the donors for your generosity.  It really would not happen without you.

Tricia Dundon, Rapid Response Circle Convenor

UPDATE  Since this Report was written on Friday 8 September, a number of new referrals have been made including three families from Afghanistan in dire circumstances and desperate need.  Our Circle is down to our last $1,700 and all Circles are under financial  pressure.  Whether you can make a one off donation or commit to a regular amount, your contribution is urgently needed.  Thank you in advance for your help.

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