See Our Work in Action
We’d like to give you the chance to get to know us a bit better through our work and stories from the field of the great work taking place around the world.
As we celebrate Refugee Week this month, it’s an opportunity to highlight the behind-the-scenes efforts of the Community Refugee Sponsorship Program (CRISP). This initiative enables refugee individuals and families to be welcomed here in Australia by a community group to facilitate their arrival and settlement. Behind every newly welcomed refugee is a group of passionate individuals who are committed to making their community welcoming for all.
“People are coming from a community before it was torn apart. Our community will extend their arms and will take these people in. We will. It is so important to make them feel welcome and to have kindness. It is just so important for the community so that they can actually feel a sense of place,” shares Pauline, a member of the Marrickville Refugee Welcome Group.
But behind their personal commitment and belief, it also takes a lot of effort and organisation to provide adequate support. CRISP provides training and has a set of requirements for people to be able to form a group, such as providing a police check and demonstrating an initial fund to support the settling of a family or individual.
“We established a core group for a two-year commitment, meeting every two weeks to ensure that all the administrative documentation would be completed. We also had a support group of about 25 people, people who are interested to step in to help when needed, in case we welcome a family that they'll be able to support us, help with all sorts of things, such as food or fundraising, finding adequate accommodation and schooling for children if needed,” shares Pauline.
These first steps are important in creating strong and committed groups who take responsibility for building a welcoming environment for people who have been left with nothing, displaced, without a place to call home.
And this is where the program offers something deeper: it is not just about providing safe shelter, but about creating a warm home within a welcoming community.
The Marrickville Refugee Welcome Group first started as a parish community initiative, but it quickly grew beyond that, with the wider Marrickville community embracing the project wholeheartedly.
“The community is very, very generous. And whenever we've had an issue or project that has to do with the asylum seekers or refugees, they've just come forward, help us raise money. It's just really important, we want the family to be accepted by the community and to know that they can relax and build their life in this country,” adds Pauline.
We all have our reasons to act. For Pauline, she sees it as an expression of her beliefs: “it is social justice in action.”
Contact us
For more information on the program or how your community can get involved, contact Anne Nesbitt at [email protected].
