September Issue 2010

AGM Wednesday

20 October 2010

OPEN DAY

Saturday

16 October 2010

Companion House Assisting Survivors of Torture and Trauma Inc.

41 Templeton Street COOK ACT 2614 Telephone: (02) 6251 4550 Fax: (02) 6251 8550

Mailing Address: PO BOX 112 Jamison Centre ACT 2614

Email: info@companionhouse.org.au Website: http://www.companionhouse.org.au

Companion House Assisting Survivors of Torture and Trauma

Newsletter Contents

Staff Update & Introducing New Staff 2

Annual General Meeting 3

Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme (IAAAS) 3

Life in translation: Working at Companion House 4

Learning from each other– Community Development 5

Understanding Burmese culture 6

Dinka Folktales from Sudan Advertisement 8

New Membership Form 2010-11 9

Soccer Day photos 11

Companion House photos 12

Staff Update

Page 2

Patrons:

Justice Elizabeth Evatt AO

Professor William Maley AM

Honorary Consultant:

Dr Lucy Ong

Director:

Clare Doube

Medical Team:

Tuija Kamppi

Silvia Salas Meyer

Dr Chris Phillips

Dr Joo-Inn Chew

Dr Alex Stevenson

Dr Katrina Anderson

Dr James Eldridge

Administration Team:

Loan Freeman

Sai Maung

Counselling Team:

Elizabeth Price

Robin Alderson-Smith

Jeby Jose

Deborah Nelson

Fiona Delacy

Ina Susljik

Complementary Therapy:

Rosemary Taylor

Community Development Team:

Vesna Golic

Hong Sar Channaibanya

Sandra Lloyd

Training, Advocacy, and Community

Awareness Team:

Glenn Flanagan

James Atem Mayen

Directly Employed Interpreters:

Siri Mon Chan

Eh Paw Thorpe

Elizabeth Lawmi Thangpueh

Bookkeeper/ Accountant:

Gen Hemsley – Wilken

Complex Case Manager:

Pam Mitchell

IT Support:

Eric Warner

Introducing Tuija Kamppi, our new Practice

Nurse and Medical Team Leader

My name is Tuija Kamppi. I have started a new work

chapter and journey at Companion House as a

Practice Nurse since the end of June 2010. My

experience as a Registered Nurse is in Adult Health

and includes both Clinical and Community work. I

enjoy caring for people from various cultural

backgrounds and we in Australia certainly have this

opportunity. My interest in refugee clients and their

health care brings me to Companion House. I hope to

make some difference to the lives of refugees and

asylum seekers through my work here.

Introducing Jeby Jose, our new Early

Intervention Counsellor Advocate

Hi All, I am Jeby Jose, and glad to be a member of the

Companion House family by joining as Early

Intervention Counsellor/Advocate on 26th July 2010.

Let me take you to my little world. I am a person from

the Social Work field and completed a Master of Social

Work with specialization in Medical and Psychiatric

Social Work in the year 2004 from the University of

Calicut, Kerala, India. My career in Social Work

started in the year 2004 working as a Geriatric care

Manager and I continued in various roles such as

Counsellor, Social Worker, Field Work Coordinator

cum Lecturer, Remedial Educator and Psychiatric

Social Worker. My fields of interest are research,

counselling, group work and hospital social work. With

an intention to advance my professional career I

(Continued on page 5)

Page 3

September Issue 2010

The Immigration Advice and Application Assistance

Scheme is now offered in the ACT region through

Companion House.

The IAAAS can help people with advice and some

people with application support if they are living in the

Australian community and are seeking a protection

visa.

The IAAAS can also help some other people with

advice if they are a disadvantaged sponsor of a spouse

or family related visa applicant.

To be eligible for IAAAS services you must be

experiencing financial hardship and meet criteria which

indicate vulnerable personal circumstances.

If you would like to enquire about the IAAAS service

please call Companion House on 6251 4550.

The IAAAS will be launched at Companion House on

Wednesday September 15th 10:30-11:30am.

All members are very welcome to attend and find out

more about this service.

Dear Members of Companion House

You are invited to come to

the

Companion House

Annual General Meeting

Where: In the Community Hall of our new premises

(41 Templeton Street Cook in the old Cook Primary School

next to the Cook shops)

When: Wed Oct 20th 5.30 for 6.00pm

Refreshments will be provided

IAAAS - The Immigration Advice and Application

Assistance Scheme

Page 4

Put your old cards to good use

Do you have old cards (Christmas, birthday, new baby etc) and would like to put them to

good use? We can use them at Companion House. We recycle the pictures at the front

and sell the cards to help with fundraising.

Please drop off old cards any time during office hours to the reception desk at

Companion House.

Life in Translation: working at Companion House Dr Joo-Inn Chew

A toddler who bolts when he hears the New Year‟s

Eve fireworks, assuming they are gunshots. A woman

who trekked hours through the jungle on horseback in

labour to reach the nearest medical clinic. A man with

injuries from torture. A teenager who has spent his

entire life in refugee camp. A woman who saw three

of her four children die. A long-lost twin brother

discovered safe across the border.

The voice of the telephone interpreter - clam, flowing,

even - is the bridge between my safe little office, and

an unimaginable world. My patients sit across from

me, rugged up in secondhand jumpers against the

Canberra winter, a million miles from Darfur, Burma,

Iran, and Sierra Leone. But their stories fill the room.

At times it can be overwhelming, but most days we

focus on what can be done now. People rarely want

to look back, at least at first. Their energies go

towards trying to secure a life in Australia: housing,

language lessons, kids in school, teeth fixed, the

baroque intricacies of government and social services.

It is often the course of our year or two together that

symptoms and stories come out.

Trauma is frequently manifest in headaches,

sleeplessness, abdominal pain, dizziness; symptoms

unexplained after screening for anaemia, infections and

other common diseases. Our counselors do their best

across thickets of cultural differences. Their support is

a welcome resource I miss in mainstream general

practice.

Likewise, we in the medical clinic do the ever-

fascinating translation dance, stepping up with

interpretations of symptoms, stepping back with new

understandings or perplexities, clumsily waltzing about

with our patients trying to forge common

understanding. It took me years to find out that in

Dinka, „heart‟ and „lung‟ are the same word; that it‟s

common for Sudanese to perceive rectal bleeding as

fatal; and that the smiling faces of families do not mean

everything is ok.

People‟s resilience and recovery humble me. There

are smiles and laughter as often as anxiety and tears in

the consulting room. Children in particular seem to

charge into their new life, quick to become fluent in

the cultures and languages around them. Years later

they stride up in the supermarket, gorgeous confident

teenagers. The distance people can travel, the change

they can make, and the trauma they can live with,

astound me each day I work at Companion House. I

take less for granted, and appreciate more and more

what it is to be human.

Dr. Joo-Inn Chew is a GP at Companion House. This

article first appeared in GP ACTION, the newsletter

of the ACT Division of General Practice.

Learning from each other

Page 5

September Issue 2010

their community life in Australia. We talked about the

great achievements that these communities have made

over the years in Canberra and Goulburn. They told us

about their goals and dreams, and talked about the

challenges that they might have on their journey

towards achieving their goals. We learnt a lot from

that meeting and our work now is very much inspired

by what we heard then.

Currently we are focused on building connections

between different communities, a goal identified by

participants at the Community Exchange Forum.

Together with community representatives we will

work towards building stronger relationships between

communities and different services over the coming 12

months. We are excited about the opportunities that

this works brings.

The Community Development team are: Sandra Lloyd

(Project Officer), Hongsar Channaibanya (Project

Officer) and Vesna Golic (Team Leader).

Vesna Golic writes about the Community

Development team at Companion House

The Community Development team at Companion

House works in cooperation with communities, their

associations, groups, and individuals. Our goal is to

assist communities in their efforts to become strong

and supportive for each other, as they build their place

in Australian society.

All our activities start from talking to communities

about what they want to achieve and how we can help

them work towards those achievements. We form

community groups in which people share their

experience in settling in Australia. They have an

opportunity to talk about the positive things about

their lives here, and share ideas on how to deal with

things that are not so easy. They make contacts with

each other, learn from each other and we also share

our knowledge and experience with them.

Sometimes we talk about the differences in parenting

in Australia and in the country of origin. Other times

we talk about family strength and how to maintain it

when life in Australia is so different from life before.

We also share experiences dealing with different

services, such as Centrelink, employment services,

schools, and hospitals.

In our groups we also talk about how to maintain good

health, cook healthy food, and take care of ourselves

and our families. But as well whole families and

communities come together to have fun, play sport,

have a family day out, welcome new community

members at barbeques and picnics, dance and play. We

also work closely with community leaders and

representatives in building the strengths they need for

their work with communities.

In May 2010 we organised a Community Exchange

Forum where representatives of the Sudanese, Karen,

Mon, Chin, Sierra Leone and Hazara communities

came together to exchange their experience of building

moved to Australia in April 2010 with my husband and

little boy.

Being a person from India, which is a place of diverse

cultures, languages and traditions I found this setting an

apt place for me to start with. In fact, at the moment I

am in a world of new faces, new culture, new

atmosphere …….the whole thing new. Although, I feel

quite relaxed and wonderful because of the group of

people around me. It gives me a lot of enjoyment to

perform my current role which is full of exciting

challenges and opportunities. I love the team

surrounding me who guides and motivates me with

their years of experience and knowledge. I appreciate

Companion House for giving me such a great opening

to work here and I look forward to build up my

professional career as an expert counselor with the

opportunities that I gain from here………Thank You.

(Continued from page 2)

Understanding Burmese Culture

Page 6

for about 68 percent of the population. Other major

ethnic groups include the Shan (about four million),

Karen (about three million), Arakanese or Rakhine

(about two million), Chinese (over one million), Chin

(over one million), Wa (about one million), Mon

(about one million), Indians and Bengalis (about one

million), Jingpho (about less than one million), and

Palaung (less than one million). With the exception of

the Chinese, Indian, and Belgalis, each minority group

occupies a relatively distinct area. You can read more

on Burma at www.everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Burma.html

I was born in Burma and lived there until the age of 24.

I then left the country and lived in Thailand until the

age of 29, and finally migrated to Australia in 1997.

During my time in Burma I had an opportunity to grow

up in a Buddhist monastic institution for over ten years

from the age of 13 to 23. I undertook basic and higher

Buddhist education, and was informed by a wealth of

knowledge of Burmese culture through reading,

studying and teaching. Now I am living with, at least,

three cultures: a Mon ethnicity, being a Burmese

citizen, and now the Australian way of life as well.

Some might think this is unique, but I have coped with

all the differences regardless of the norms and beliefs

in my new environment. Others too might live with

more than one culture. To better understand

Burmese culture it is also important to understand the

country‟s history. Burmese is a common term to all

people in Burma, but remember that each ethnic group

preserves their own cultural identity.

When we consider traditions at home, respecting

adults or parents has been commonly valued.

Preserving the principle of Buddhism is also important

to many people, although not all people in Burma are

Buddhist. Parents expect some return from children

when they are getting old, and serving and caring for

parents has been considered a good practice and

believed to be meritorious.

(Continued on page 7)

A personal view, by Hong Sar Channaibanya

Burma is a multi-ethnic country with a long history of

civil war. Minorities from Burma do not appreciate

being called “Burmese”. They often prefer to refer to

their own identities such as Karen, Kachin, and Mon

etc. This article does not focus on one of these

particular ethnic groups, but rather on people in

Burma generally, especially people in lower Burma.

It is also important to stress that readers should always

consider the character or behavior of each individual

person rather a group or ethnicity when thinking about

people from Burma. There are many other resources

on Burma in the internet for greater understanding of

its people and their cultures. Additional reading can be

found on the following link (www.everyculture.com/Bo-

Co/Burma.html).

Culture is about people, and shared beliefs and

customs. It is about our attitudes and how we behave,

as well as about language and dress. Culture is a living

process, and can change or be modified, due to the

past or the present environment. It is a mixing pot like

a flower in the garden. The flowers can turn into

different colours from the same pot. The mixing pot

shows us something of the endless diversity of human

nature.

Burmese culture is new to many in the Australian

community. Since I first arrived here, community

workers and people from various agencies have asked

me many questions about Burmese culture. I will offer

some information based on my own experiences and I

hope you find it useful.

To start with, here is some interesting information on

the demography of Burma:

The official population figure in 1995 was 44.74 million,

but it may range from 41.7 million to 47 million.

Linguists have identified 110 distinct ethnolinguistic

groups, and the government recognizes 135 ethnic

groups (referred to as races). The Burmese account

Page 7

September Issue 2010

A typical belief is that families should share common

burdens. Many people believe relationships between

parents and children should be exceptionally strong

both in good or bad times. Assisting your parents with

money and in other material ways is often widely

appreciated in the community.

When talking about culture we need to acknowledge

the perspective of gender. Burmese men, kings and

presidents have been controlling society with absolute

power for thousands of years. In traditional families

men have earned a living and women have managed

domestic issues in a household. However, some

women prefer to earn and work and this is not a

problem.

Family cohesion is highly valued, and in the home

country parents have played a key role in dealing with

domestic crises and in the mediation process. Siblings

are very important when a crisis has occurred in the

family. Often elder sisters will take a role, like their

mother‟s role, if their mother is not at home during an

emergency.

Burmese culture is more communal, and individualism

is traditionally less highly valued. Families will hold

cooking and eating get-togethers for one to three days

at the parents‟ homes during festival seasons. Some

grandparents look after their grandchildren in the

home country without financial reward, but they are

also cared for by all their sons and daughters. If we

compare the beliefs of urban people and rural people,

wealthier and poorer people, highly educated or less

well educated people, of course we will discover

different family practices and attitudes.

The Burmese community maintains social harmony

through festivals and spiritual blessing either at home

or at the temples. Meditation courses are widely open

for the public around the country. Buddhist monks

play a key role in providing community harmony.

(Continued from page 6) Burma‟s culture might seem poor in wealth and

appearance, but it is rich in soul, in each of its

communities.

I have been living from my childhood to my teenage

years in different family settings and Buddhist

institutions for over ten years, and now I have also

been living in a western culture for over ten years. I

speak my native language, Mon and my second language

Burmese, and a third Thai, orally, as well as English all

by the age of 30. These have helped me to adapt and

cope with differences. It is time for us all to think first

about the issue of peoples‟ characters rather than only

on different cultures. The best way to overcome

cultural barriers is to first to try to listen to people‟s

needs and understand the social environment around

them.

Hong Sar is a Community Development Project Officer at

Companion House. He facilitates group sessions on

“Families in Cultural Transition” for people who have

settled in the ACT and NSW region from 2006 to the

current. Comments are welcomed to this article by email:

hongsar.channaibanya@companionhouse.org.au. This

article is his personal opinion only and it is not necessarily

the opinion of Companion House.

Thank you for the music

We would like to say a big Thank You

to Brendon Clark of Davis Wheeler

Music in Phillip who recently donated

a new guitar to one of our clients at

Companion House

Page 8

Page 9

September Issue 2010

The Sixth Annual World

Refugee Day Soccer

Tournament

Page 10

Congratulations to the Liberian team from

Goulburn for winning the tournament! The Karen

team were the very strong runners up on the day. Six

teams participated this year, Sudanese, Sierra Leone,

Mon, Chin and Karen. This was the first time teams

from the Chin and Liberian teams from Goulburn

competed.

Thank you to all the organisations who helped out on

the day, with a big special thank you to Radford

College for their delicious BBQ, the Australian

Institute of Sport for giving us the venue, Canberra

Milk for their donation, and Kaleen Sports Club for

use of their bus, U-Turn Youth Service Belconnen for

helping us out with soccer balls, prizes and great show

bags, and Dickson SIEC for coming to help out on the

day. Thanks also to all the wonderful individuals who

helped out as well on the day!

(See photos on the next page)

Come and celebrate at our

Open Day

Saturday October 16th

11am to 3pm

Spring is coming and so is the Open Day of the Cook

Community Hub (41 Templeton Street Cook) where

the new Companion House office is located.

This event will be an opportunity to join the Cook and

surrounding community to celebrate with us. The

program for the day will include: workshops with

theatre groups; choir and dance performances; a range

of art and craft exhibitions; quilting demonstrations;

children‟s activities; and open day tours with a range of

Hub tenant organisations.

The Cook Community Hub is an initiative of the ACT

Department of Disability, Housing and Community

Services. Apart from Companion House, other Cook

Community Hub tenants include:

Canberra Quilters

The Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra

U3A (University of the Third Age)

Free-Rain Theatre Company

Supa Productions

Phoenix Players

Classical Ballet Centre

ACT Playgroups Association Incorporated

Community Programs Association Inc (LEAD)

Autism Asperger Building Blocks

Koala Playschool Parents Association

We hope you can join us on the 16th.

Cook Community

Hub

Disclaimer

The views expressed in newsletter articles are the

views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the

views and opinions of Companion House.

Soccer photos on page 11

1) The Chin team from Goulburn played a fantastic game

2) The Karen team played a strong game and came second over all

3) The team captain of the winning Liberian team and ACT

Minister for Multicultural Affairs Joy Burch

4) The end of an exciting day!

5) The Sudanese team were really inspiring players

6) The Mon team showed great skill and team spirit

7) The Liberian team from Goulburn – the champions for 2010

8) The Sierra Leone team were amazing players – and last years‟

winners

Sixth Annual Refugee Day Soccer Tournament

Page 11

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Don‟t forget that Companion House has moved to 41 Templeton Street Cook (in the old Cook Primary

School) near the Cook shops

Reception area

Entrance and play ground Entrance… you are welcome

Inside Companion House

Please all our office on

6251 4550 to buy your

Companion House

calendar for 2011 with

beautiful artwork by

children from a refugee

background

$15 if picked up from

the office

$20 if you would like us

to post it to you