Liz van Zoggel
RACS is considered a leader in the field of education on refugee law. As processes and policies keep changing legal education is the key to keeping people informed on current issues as well as trying to “change the conversation” so that people better understand the human rights of asylum seekers. RACS provides a diverse array of information and training sessions to various groups in the community including lawyers, migration agents, clients, community workers, students, and the general public in a wide variety of forums. The purpose of these activities is to increase community awareness of refugee and asylum seeker issues and the services that RACS provides.
Through these educational activities, RACS seeks to facilitate more effective participation in Australia’s refugee processes. We are also in the process of broadening the delivery of our community education to the schools sector. Supporting refugee education. In general, refugee students have greater educational and support needs than most other newly arrived migrant students. Most refugee children and young people have had disrupted or no education prior to arrival in Australia.
Many have no literacy skills in their first language and in addition may have complex health problems, including mental health issues as a result of their experiences. Schools School-aged refugee students, in particular high school students, generally require high levels of support to enable them to settle successfully in school, learn English and acquire literacy in order to access the full curriculum.
Schools can provide a safe environment for refugee children and young people and help them settle in their new community. Teachers are often very important in helping young people to recover from refugee experiences. For examples of school-based programs refer to Getting involved: Schools NSW Department of Education and Communities. Art Therapy Group. In my art therapy classes today we created paintings (and some valentines) in acrylic using mostly found objects instead of brushes.
We began by laying down a background in either dark or light paint. After letting that dry, we layered designs, dots, swirls... onto the background using sticks, forks, q-tips, fingers, etc. It was enormous fun. We talked about how texture can make something richer and more interesting. What give texture to life? Youssef's story - Twitter Takeover (with images, tweets) · UNICEF. Syrian refugees: Philip Ruddock warns against 'ghettoing' as majority of extra 12,000 refugees to resettle in Sydney, Melbourne.
Updated Veteran Liberal MP Philip Ruddock has warned against the "ghettoing" of thousands of Syrian refugees expected to be given new homes in Australia. The majority of the 12,000 extra refugees are expected to be resettled in Sydney and Melbourne, where the bulk of Australia's Syrian community lives. Reports suggest many will be housed in south-west Sydney. Member for Berowra and former immigration minister Mr Ruddock said deciding where they would live was "very complex" and it was important support services were readily available. "Sometimes you need to think about where communities already exist because they can be very important in supporting those who are coming," Mr Ruddock said.
"You need to look at the way in which you can apply adequate settlement services where they are, you need to look at where the support organisations are. "Those are factors that are going to be taken into account. Federal Government, community leaders hold resettlement talks. Asylum seeker intake explained: Who will come to Australia under the Government's plan? Updated The Federal Government has announced it will accept 12,000 extra refugees affected by conflict in Syria and Iraq. Those accepted will be eligible for permanent resettlement in Australia. But who will come, when will they get here and is Australia prepared for the new arrivals? Who will be eligible? This is a one-off intake of 12,000 refugees displaced by the conflict in Syria and Iraq. This additional quota is on top of the existing 13,750 places already set aside for this financial year. Displaced women, children and families will be prioritised from camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
There will be a focus on persecuted minorities. Unaccompanied minors present a very difficulty task in terms of both identification and resettlement because the Government has to become their guardian. How many people are seeking refuge? There are 630,000 Syrians in Jordan who have already been registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. When will the first refugees start arriving? Australia takes first step to address world refugee crisis. The Australian Government has stepped up to save the lives of 12,000 more people escaping the conflict in Syria. Petition now closed Almost 26,000 people signed our petition calling on Australia to offer asylum to 20,000 Syrian refugee, in addition to its existing humanitarian quota. Our petition calling on Australia to is now closed. Thank you to everyone who signed. Worst refugee crisis since WWII This is just the first step needed, as world leaders, including Australia, look to address the worst refugee crisis since WWII.
"Thousands more people will now have the chance to live safe and happy lives and make positive contributions to the diverse Australian community," said Dr Graham Thom, Refugee Coordinator, Amnesty International Australia. Intake should be increased to 20,000 But there’s no reason this number can’t be increased to 20,000 people, in addition to the current humanitarian intake of 13,750. The Prime Minister has so far failed to put a time frame on the placements. 9169. Here's how you can help during the refugee crisis in Europe. When looking at the sheer number of refugees around the world, it's easy to become disillusioned. According to a June report, nearly 60 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2014, 19.5 million of whom were refugees (up from 16.7 million in the previous year). Half of those refugees were children. And there isn't an end to the crisis in sight, due in large part to conflicts in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
There are currently more than 4 million Syrian refugees displaced throughout various countries, not including more than 7.6 million people internally displaced within the country. When those hard facts and figures fail to garner the general public's attention, human stories and striking images — like the tragic photo of a Syrian refugee boy's lifeless body that washed ashore in a Turkey resort town Wednesday morning — tend to build empathy and anger across the globe, shedding light on a terribly common occurrence. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The Refugee Art Project. STILL ALIVE Exhibition. Research Doc Therapy with Refugee Children. Art Therapy without Borders Australia. Clouds Over Sidra. WHAT’S IN MY BAG? — Uprooted IRC. This year, nearly 100,000 men, women and children from war-torn countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia have fled their homes and traveled by rubber dinghies across the Aegean Sea to Lesbos, Greece. Refugees travel light, for their trek is as dangerous as it is arduous. They are detained, shot at, hungry. Smugglers routinely exploit them, promising safety for a price, only to squeeze them like sardines into tiny boats. Most have no option but to shed whatever meager belongings they may have salvaged from their journeys.
Few arrive at their destinations with anything but the necessities of life. “You will feel that you are a human. Empowering Students Through Multimedia Storytelling. Perceptions of people and events are very much dependent upon who you are and what your experience has been. Events in Ferguson and Baltimore, among others, highlight our misunderstandings of each other, and how the same facts can be interpreted entirely differently. What's worse, people of color and underrepresented groups are defined by journalists covering these events, who themselves don't reflect the ethnic composition of our country as a whole. Recent studies have proven that stories can change perceptions and even make people more tolerant. Rather than wait to be defined by others, it's important that students learn to create understanding by sharing their story, their worldview, their concerns, and their triumphs with others. Groups like Youth Radio and Cause Beautiful are empowering teens in poor and minority-majority neighborhoods to become multimedia journalists.
Kids in these programs learn how to tell and share their own stories with a local or national audience. How to Do It. Storytelling With Wearable Technology | Edutopia Empower our refugee children with storytelling. Wearable technology is incredibly exciting for educators and students of all ages. In the past few years, mobile devices have found an essential place in the classroom. If you've used smartphones and tablets as instructional tools, you know how powerful these devices can be in the hands of students. Will this also be true for wearable technology? When we think of wearable technology, products like the Apple Watch and Google Glass might pop into your mind. So what does this have to do with storytelling? One exciting feature of wearable technology is that it can change our view of the world and collect information about our interactions in different spaces.
Google Cardboard Virtual reality might seem like it falls into the science fiction category. Fitbit The Fitbit is one of my favorite wearables, and just one device can bring storytelling to your classroom. GoPro This wearable camera can help students capture their perspective. Apple Watch The world is changing. Education one of the greatest losses for refugees. How Syrian Children Are Drawing and Using Art Therapy to Heal the Trauma from War. In an upscale district of Downtown Beirut, two pre-teen boys rapped in Arabic during an exhibit showcasing the artwork of Syrian refugee children. Ramzi, a 12-year-old originally from Daraa, Syria, beatboxed as his friend Ayham, also from Daraa, spit rhymes. Guests watched quietly, impressed, as the two boys recalled life before the uprising turned civil war wreaked havoc on their country.
This was part of an exhibit called “Light Against Darkness,” the result of a three-month art workshop that focused on helping children overcome the trauma of war through creative expression. Forty-three children produced about 166 works of drawings and clay sculptures, many of which depicted colorful renditions of schools, kids playing together, and families bonding. Others were not so cheery. Suha Wanous, a young girl originally from Latakia, drew a daughter holding her mother’s hand while a gun is pressed to her head.
For some children, expressing that voice on paper was no easy task. Watch "Art Therapy in A Refugee Camp" by @rustyajackson on @Vimeo #edfd459. Instant Comfort - today's art therapy project. In my art therapy group today I brought in small match boxes - easy to carry in your pocket. The idea is to have something to remind you of good self talk when your most troublesome emotion is bothering you. The outside of the box tells what bothers you. Inside are words and phrases you can say to yourself for comfort. Here's what my students created. UPDATE: Since several people have asked me how I did this, here is a small tutorial (without photos, I'm sad to say.)
Buy a packet or two of small match boxes at any supermarket and empty the matches out. A Dispatch from a Syrian Refugee Camp. By Lionel Beehner A few quick and random thoughts on my recent trip interviewing refugees along the Syrian-Jordanian border and in the notorious Za’atari camp. Za’atari Refugee Camp, JORDAN: Many girls in Za’atari do not attend schools, live in female-headed households, and are married off early. First, the refugees were not the worst off in Syria, which means those internally displaced could pose greater challenges in the long run. Those who got out either had familial connections across the border or the means to bribe their way past enough checkpoints to make it into Jordan.
Most I spoke to were middle-income Syrians from Daraa province, itself an area long associated as a smugglers’ route in the region. Second, the refugees I interviewed are stubborn, and reminded me some of American twenty-somethings who refuse to buy health insurance — most never thought they’d be in this position. Third, Jordan is not their first choice. The health needs of refugees keep rising. What can I do to help with the Refugee crisis? | teachramblings. Sculpture by lifetime sailor & artist Frances Bruno Catalano. Located in Marseille, France – Frances says “‘I have travelled a lot and I left Morocco when I was 12 years old. I felt that a part of me was gone and will never come back. ‘From years of being a sailor, I was always leaving different countries and places each time and it’s a process that we all go through.”
Or just how I feel on a Monday morning. Germany: 800,000 refugees - and then what? Berlin, Germany - Squeezed onto a small rubber dinghy with 12 other people, Mahmoud Kazazz held on tight to brace against the waves in the Aegean Sea and prayed. It was his third attempt to cross from Turkey to Greece by boat. On the previous two tries, the rickety vessel capsized shortly after taking off near Izmir.
Soaked through, shivering in his wet clothes, and exhausted, Kazazz refused to give up. As the motorboat rattled across the water, he had one destination in mind - Germany. "I had a life in Syria, I had friends and family and school. I didn't want to leave," Kazazz, 27, from Damascus, told Al Jazeera. As the civil war in Syria worsened, he embarked on a perilous, dangerous and costly journey to reach safety and a better future in Europe. Kazazz is one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have come to Germany in recent months - from Syria, Iraq, Libya, Eritrea, Somalia, and Afghanistan.
Last weekend alone, 20,000 refugees arrived in Munich. Source: Al Jazeera. Germany: Refugees are falsely claiming to be Syrian. 'Always a hint of hope in uncertainty' #edfd459. Syria war refugees in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan don't all want to come here. Syrian refugees along the Serbia-Hungary border wonder ‘what’s next’? “I want to go to school!” Child-Friendly Spaces - Teachers Without Borders.