Refugee Week: Celebrating the 'Year of Welcome' Online Sessions

Bringing stories and conversations into your home and work, this series of 5 engaging online sessions around refugee issues will be presented during Refugee Week. The one off cost covers all sessions.

• Monday June 15th from 2pm - 3pm Refugees & Mental Health. Community connections are central to overall health and wellbeing amongst refugee communities. 2pm - 2.30pm Conversation with Dr Sarah Kemp, a local Blue Mountains GP - Providing comfort and connections to people settling in a new country. 
• Tuesday June 16 from 12.00pm - 12.30pm Performance and conversation with Nepean Multicultural Access music group - Supporting wellbeing and connections through a community music group.
  
• Wednesday June 17th from 12pm - 1pm  Strategic Regional welcoming. Talia Stump will discuss her research from 20 regional and rural communities in Canada, USA, Germany, Norway and Sweden and a panel of a refugee, school Principal & cafe owner talking about their strategies of rolling up their sleeves to actively assist. This will be a session to help communities plan to be truly places of welcome.
• Friday June 19th from 6.00pm - 7.00pm Celebrating the strength and resilience of refugee women during COVID and beyond. A review of recent research into the impacts of COVID and isolation on refugee communities. In conversation with Najeeba Wazefadost, Rooan Al Kalmashi and Samzin Kalang.
• Saturday June 20th – The free event “Blue Mountains Refugee Welcome Way” will be a series of social media events filmed up and down the mountains available on Saturday 20th June https://www.facebook.com/BlueMountainsRefugeeSupportGroup/. You can be involved by sending in messages, photos and videos which welcome refugees to the Blue Mountains if you are an Elf, a Wizard, a Fairy Godmother or just an ordinary soul -it is Winter Magic Weekend.
• Saturday July 4th from 2pm - 3pm – Phil Voysey will be talking with Esmat Ullah about his journey from Afghanistan to Australia via detention in Indonesia. Come and hear his remarkable story of resilience.

Closer to the time, the Zoom links for the individual sessions will be emailed to you.

All proceeds will go to the Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group.