2023 | ISSUE 9 | SJC Newsletter

Identity News

Refugee Week 2023 Finding Freedom

Due to exam week, we will be celebrating Refugee Week at St Joseph’s Week 2 of Term 3 Monday 17^th July – Friday 21^st July. This year’s theme is ‘Finding Freedom’.

According to the Refugee Council of Australia, to be free means: To live without the fear of war, to have your basic human rights upheld, to live in equality and without the fear of persecution are just some of the examples of what freedom can entail. Every day millions of people across the world embark on dangerous journeys for the sole purpose of finding safety and freedom. From Australia to Nations across the globe, settling into a new environment after experiencing the perils of a refugee’s journey can also provide the opportunity to live, to love and to dream. Each year a theme is used to promote harmony and togetherness. The theme unites individuals, communities and organisations from many different backgrounds behind a common cause. The common theme is a reminder that, regardless of our differences, we all share a common humanity. https://www.refugeeweek.org.au...

This year’s theme encourages us to showcase the journey of finding freedom in our own communities and live, whether it be through a new home, a new career, finding love or friendships. Let us show compassion and celebrate the resilience that makes up parts of our wider community. For freedom should not be an ask, it should be a way of life.

Joey’s Community Cultural Diversity Cook Book

We are inviting our St Joseph’s families, students and staff to share a much-loved recipe from your cultural heritage to contribute to our inaugural, ‘Joey’s Community Cultural Cook Book’. Please send your recipe in to [email protected] . Format: Size 12 font Arial, Ingredients, Method Steps, Photo.

Refugee Week Events will include the following:

Wellbeing Lesson Students will participate in a lesson reflecting on the Refugee Week 2023 Finding Freedom, including a special student and staff collaborative recording of Anh Do’s, ‘The Happiest Refugee’.

Circle of Solidarity - Tuesday 18^th July Lunchtime in the Quad

Our student led ‘Circle of Solidarity’ is an opportunity for all student leaders to participate in an emotional gathering to show support for refugees in our community and people seeking asylum. We gather not only to educate but also to uphold our values of compassion and integrity just as Edmund Rice would have.

Support for ‘The Welcome Place’ Culturally Appropriate Food Items

Kathy Jenkins, award winning former St Joseph’s College history teacher and member of the Combined Refugee Action Group Geelong, has informed us that there is a great need to support the food bank at ‘The Welcome Place’, with twenty-two families recently requiring food items. In order to provide support to people on Bridging Visas who have had their Status Resolution Support Service income support taken away, or who have Safe Haven Enterprise or Temporary Protection Visas and who do not have ongoing work, a food bank has been established at the Wesley Asylum Seeker Welcome Place. This is in response to the Diversitat food bank closing due to funding ending. We will allocate a list of culturally appropriate items to selected year levels to request support the food bank during Refugee Week next term. Allocated items will be the SIMON Daily Messages for each year level to donate. Each homeroom will be provided with a box for the collection of donated items. Please support it.

As a school community this year we are committed to our theme, to ‘Opening our hearts and minds to build better world for all.’ We are committed to justice and peace for all and together the actions of our hands, hearts and our voices in solidarity, bring peace and freedom in our world.

I conclude with an upcoming message from Pope Francis.

109th World Day Of Migrants and Refugees 2023 ‘Free to choose whether to migrate or to stay’.

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25:35-36). These words are a constant admonition to see in the migrant not simply a brother or sister in difficulty, but Christ himself, who knocks at our door. Consequently, even as we work to ensure that in every case migration is the fruit of a free decision, we are called to show maximum respect for the dignity of each migrant; this entails accompanying and managing waves of migration as best we can, constructing bridges and not walls, expanding channels for a safe and regular migration. In whatever place we decide to build our future, in the country of our birth or elsewhere, the important thing is that there always be a community ready to welcome, protect, promote and integrate everyone, without distinctions and without excluding anyone. https://migrants-refugees.va/w...

Mary Malone - Director of Identity 
Brad Lynch - Refugee Coordinator