Mental health, disability and employment are just some of the challenges facing Victoria’s ethnic communities, according to the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (ECCV). In an interview to mark 40 years of the organisation’s existence, ECCV Chairperson Eddie Micallef told…

The New South Wales health department says certain groups have higher rates of health-related problems such as heart disease. Type 2 diabetes, for example, is a particular concern in the Chinese community. Read more: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/08/30/nsw-targets-health-messages-ethnic-communities

The greatest lessons learnt at school do not always come from textbooks and chalkboards, as a group of students from refugee and Australian-born backgrounds realised last week. Christian refugees Simon and Simona Ochana, who study at the Miller Intensive English…

A 12-year-old school girl who arrived in Australia just a year ago as an asylum seeker and first encountered the English language just two years ago has won a major national poetry prize. Maryam Sathat Sobhani, originally from Iran and…

Twelve-year-old Maryam Sathat Sobhani has been in Australia just a year and first encountered the English language just two years ago. But this week the daughter of asylum seekers from Iran won a major national poetry prize. Maryam’s poem “Me”…

For many students, university is the ultimate goal. But often, refugee kids miss out because they find Australia’s tertiary education system daunting. A mentoring program between universities and schools is helping to bridge the gap. Read more: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/08/29/mentors-encourage-refugee-kids-apply-university-places

FARAWAY corners of this wide brown land are not unfamiliar to 12-year-old Maryam Sathat Sobhani. She has been detained on Christmas Island, on Manus Island and in Darwin after she fled Iran with her parents two years ago. Today the…

Australia could have vastly different population sizes over the coming decades depending on growth driving forces which include birth rates, life expectancy and immigration policy, a new analysis has found. The analysis also found that a ‘bigger Australia’ was not…

GREATER Dandenong asylum seekers are immersing themselves in voluntary work to keep busy and contribute to the community. Eight Sri Lankan asylum seekers from AMES have been helping the Dandenong Salvos in their Doveton thrift store for the past few…

Using sport, camps and social activities to teach English to young refugees and migrants is achieving considerable success while also delivering cultural perspectives on Australia, according to new research. An innovative new Youth Program being delivered by settlement agency AMES under…

Two AMES clients have hosted a dinner for the founder of the Care to Share project, which sees Melburnians volunteer to host asylum seekers and refugees in their homes. AMES asylum seeker clients Nasir and Zamin hosted Care to Share…

Using sport, camps and social activities to teach English to young refugees and migrants is achieving considerable success while also delivering cultural perspectives on Australia, according to new research. An innovative new Youth Program being delivered by settlement agency AMES…