Belonging and Displacement Panel

When:
Thursday, 
26 July 2018
Time:
6-7.30pm
Where:
Fox Lecture Theatre, Arts Building, UWA
Cost:
Free
Audience:
General Public, Faculty/Staff, Students, Alumni

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Belonging and Displacement: experiences of people seeking asylum in Australia

A public panel presented by the Limina 13th Annual Conference and the UWA Institute of Advanced Studies

There are 65.6 million people in the world displaced by war, poverty, and environmental disaster, who have been forced to give up their homes in search of safety and hope for themselves and their families (UNHCR Figures 2016). Of these, 27,626 were accepted as refugees in Australia in 2016, to begin their new life in rural and urban communities. How do you foster a sense of home in another country when you may be faced with trauma, cultural barriers, bureaucratic insecurity, and a political discourse of distrust?

In this panel as part of the 2018 Limina Conference – Home: Belonging and Displacement, we invite you to hear from three speakers who will share their insight, knowledge, and ideas about what it means to work for and create a new home in Australia. The panel will draw from their perspectives as community leaders, researchers, and individuals with lived experiences as refugees.

Facilitator:  

Fadzi Whande is a Global Diversity and Inclusion Strategist, award winning Social Justice Advocate and Keynote Speaker. Her background ranges from launching telecommunication networks to addressing gender equality, racism, discrimination, health disparities, financial literacy, unemployment and social disadvantage across various sectors in Africa, UK, USA and Australia. Fadzi is the Manager, Inclusion and Diversity at The University of Western Australia.  

Panellists:

Sara Shengeb recently graduated from The University of Western Australia with Bachelor of Science. She works part time for the Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia (YACWA). Sara came to Australia as a political refugee from Eritrea five years ago. Since her arrival she has been a strong advocate for empowering and engaging young people through her work with government and non-government organizations to shape the policies that influence their lives. Currently she serves as a Ministerial Advisor to the Hon. Paul Papalia (Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Interests). At YACWA she coordinates two major programmes, Catalyst Youth Summit and ShoutOut. These programmes are designed to increase the capacity of young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, and create opportunities to network with policy makers. Sara continues to work for young people of WA which led her to be recognized as a finalist for the Australian Young People’s Human Right Medal in 2016, WA Young Achiever Award 2018 finalist and she was named Young Citizen of the year 2017 by her local government.

Bella Ndayikeze was born in 1996 in Burundi, but because of war, her family quickly fled to Tanzania when she was a year old. She grew up in a refugee camp in Tanzania, with her mother working for UNHCR and father working as a teacher. She lived in the refugee camp for seven years before her family was granted a humanitarian visa to Australia. They arrived in 2005. It was a difficult transition, compounded when her family was torn apart by domestic violence and her mother was left to raise five children. In 2009 Bella began with the Edmund Rice Centre’s Youth sports program and was invited to be a youth leader in 2010. That year she also began her musical journey. In 2011 she became the first black African female AFL coach in Australia, as the assistant coach of the Edmund Rice Lions, and also began a traineeship at the WA Football Commission in 2012. In 2014 she became co-ordinator of the Edmund Rice Lions team and debuted as an AFL player with West Perth Football Club. In that same year she also coordinated the Edmund Rice Youth leadership and Arts Program. In 2016 she launched her business Ignite Creative Media, joined the Global Shapers team in Perth and coached at the Female AFL Diversity Championships. In 2017 she was employed by the Federal Member for Cowan and became a member of the first ever Youth Ministerial Advisory Council. Bella is also on the Board of the Joondalup Hospital and other community committees.

Associate Professor Caroline Fleay teaches human rights and conducts research into the experiences of people seeking asylum in Australia at the Centre for Human Rights Education. She has been a regular visitor to some of WA’s sites of immigration detention and written extensively about the impacts on people seeking asylum of indefinite detention and being released into the community with minimal supports. Caroline has also been involved with a range of community groups and human rights campaigns over the past three decades. In 2011 she was awarded the Amnesty International Australia (WA) June Fassina Award for her contributions to human rights activism, and in 2017 she was a finalist for the United Nations Association of Australia Award for the Promotion of Human Rights. Caroline is currently a Board Member of the Refugee Council of Australia and continues to liaise with WA, national and regional refugee support organisations and activists to campaign on the rights of people seeking asylum.