Quarterly Newsletter

V O L U M E 2 . I S S U E 6

T H E A S S O C I AT I O N O F H A Z A R A S I N V I C T O R I A I N C .

Editor:

Dallas Mazoori

The Victorian Refugee Recognition

Record (VRRR) recognises the out-

standing contribution that individ-

ual refugees have made to both their

own ethnic community as well as to

the State of Victoria.

This year’s induction was held on

19th June at the Immigration Mu-

seum and coincided with the launch

of a photographic exhibition featur-

ing this year’s inductees. Among

them, Zabi Mazoori, Acting-

President of the Association of

Hazaras in Victoria, who was hon-

oured for his outstanding contribu-

tion to ensuring the welfare of the

Afghan community, as well as for his contribution to advocacy, education and

public-speaking on refugee issues across Victoria.

Inside this issue

A U G U S T 2 0 0 8

VRRR Award for

Zabi

A Settlement

Initiative: Afghan

Women’s Driving

Project

Learn a New Skill

A minute with…

Zamera Sharrifie

Annual General

Meeting

Number one in serving the Afghan community in Australia.

By Dallas Mazoori

Three decades of brutal war in Afghanistan, including the brutal Taliban regime,

have had a devastating impact upon the Afghan people. Many, particularly women,

have not had the opportunity of education, work and driving. In the last five years

or so a large number of Afghan refugees and migrants have arrived in Australia to

reunite with their family members who had previously arrived by boat.

Despite many other settlement issue for newly arrived Afghans, learning to drive is

identified a significant challenge for most of them, particularly women. In fact,

having not much knowledge about the road rules and not being able to drive has

caused lots of stress and frustration among the families. It has also seen many Af-

ghan women living extremely isolated lives.

By Abbas Amiry

… continued over page

P A G E 2

They have come from a situation where they were not

permitted to drive. But after arriving in Australia, wel-

coming and appreciating having the opportunity to

drive, they find it difficult to access. They need this

skill to contribute more in their daily life and partici-

pate in the community.

Therefore, The Association of Hazaras in Victoria is

proud to have initiated a project in partnership with

Adult Multicultural Education Service (AMES) for

Afghan women to learn driving and ultimately obtain

their drivers licence. The project will provide up to 20

hours of supervised driving and six professional driving

lessons along with classroom sessions on safe driving

from VicRoads and local police. The sessions will be

conducted in a culturally and linguistically appropriate

manner to assist the learners to become safe road users

and reduce the risk of injury of other road users in the

community.

The Association of Hazaras in Victoria acknowledges

that, after surviving the trauma of living in a war torn

country, these woman are highly motivated to settle in

Australia and create new lives for themselves and their

families including gaining a job and supporting their

children’s education. Not having a licence can be a sig-

nificant barrier to this which needs assistance to be

overcome. Therefore we would appreciate any kind of

support from local government and non-government

agencies. We appreciate and thank the City Council of

Greater Dandenong, City Council of City of Casey, the

Dandenong Police, Dandenong VicRoads, Springvale

Neighbourhood, and Springvale Community Aid and

Advice Bureau (SCAAB). Our special thanks and appre-

ciation isdedicated to our partner, Adult Multicultural

English Service (AMES) and our funding body Trans-

port Accident Commission (TAC) for being extremely

sympathetic and supportive.

The Association of Hazaras in Victoria has

recently started to actively involve mem-

bers of the Afghan community in learning

new skills by providing free training in

Certificate II and III in Hairdressing,

Childcare and Transport which are all in-

demand skills in the labour market.

“Learn a New Skill” is providing training

mainly for newly arrived refugees. Afghan

refugees, especially women, do not have

former qualification or their qualifications

are not recognised in Australia. The train-

ing in this program is provided by The

Malka Group (a registered training

agency) and the aim of the programme is

to provide an opportunity for the partici-

pants to become self employed or gain

employment upon course completion.

A Settlement Initiative …

If you would like to receive more

copies of our newsletter please send

an email to hav@bamyan.org.au

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 2 . I S S U E 6

munity and my role is that of

Women’s Co-ordinator in the Man-

agement Committee of The Associa-

tion of Hazaras in Victoria. The rea-

son for my involvement in my com-

munity is to help other women, con-

vey their message towards other

non-Afghan women and make it

easy for them to socialise and find

themselves free from all the barriers

such as not knowing the others’ lan-

guage, culture and beliefs. I do be-

lieve that our women like many other

women have the interest and hope to

share and learn from the beauty of

different cultures and make a commu-

nity and country like Australia a land

of harmony amidst diversity.

I have also been working with the

City of Casey and the Centre for Mul-

ticultural Youth Issues (CMYI), run-

ning and organising different activi-

ties such as the Multicultural Youth Eco-

Challenge in which I was a team leader

and had a group of more than 12 young,

talented and enthusiastic girls and boys

from my community. They were working

in a team with the other girls and boys

from other communities. The aim to

working with multicultural youth is to

prove “No matter what language we

speak, what colour is the shade of our

skin or what religion we believe in, our

youth have much to contribute to this so-

ciety”. I believe that there is so much skill

and potential among our young people

and that they can share their experiences

in their communities.

I earnestly wish to contribute to the crea-

tion of a unified and prosperous Australia

as a home for all of us, regardless of eth-

nicity, nationality affiliation and belief.

My name is Zamera Shariffie. My

family and I arrived in Australia in

February 2007 and were reunited

with my dad and brother after more

than seven years. Currently I’m

doing my VCE.

I have a huge interest in working

and being involved with multicul-

tural communities and especially

working with those Afghan women

and young people who have arrived

recently or in the last few years in

Australia. I’m working in my com-

The Association of Hazaras in Victoria is holding its AGM

on the 23rd August 2008 to elect new committee members and

present the annual report. Established in April 2002 our asso-

ciation might well be the only Afghan organisation in Victo-

ria which holds AGMs regularly and produces an annual re-

port every year. No wonder then that we claim to be the num-

ber one Afghan organization when it comes to serving the

Afghan community. While there are many dysfunctional Af-

ghan community groups which exist only in name, The Asso-

ciation of Hazaras in Victoria takes pride in its bright record

of the past several years and looks forward to meeting the

growing needs of Afghan refugees and migrants.

In the coming AGM the management committee intends to

put forward some changes in the association’s charter to meet

the changing trend of the Afghan community and their needs.

If approved by the members the numbers of committee mem-

bers will increase to eleven with three positions guaranteed

for women. This is to encourage more participation from Af-

ghan women in the committee to ensure that planning and

delivering the services and activities for Afghan women will

be carried out in a way which is culturally and traditionally

appropriate.

Another major change intended for the charter is the shake up

in the association’s goals, believed to be the catalyst for sig-

nificant transformation in the whole structure of the associa-

tion’s programmes and activities.

The management committee is looking forward to seeing you

all in our AGM which is going to be a fabulous celebration

for our country’s Independence Day as well as the associa-

tion’s great achievements.

By Hamed Saberi

228 Thomas St, Dandenong, 3175

The Association of Hazaras in Victoria is a non-profit organization es-

tablished in April 2002 to assist Afghan refugees in Australia . We En-

deavour to provide essential settlement support to Afghans and to

bring together the newly emerging Hazara community. We also sup-

port human rights issues, democratic freedom, minority ethnic groups’

rights and the independence and integrity of our beloved motherland.

The challenging and diverse work of the Association is carried out by

a management committee of 9 members, elected annually.

22 Grace Park Ave

Springvale Vic 3171

PO Box 7268

Dandenong Vic 3175

Mobile: 0438199170

hav@bamyan.org.au

(03) 9791 2636

V O L U M E 2 . I S S U E 6 P A G E 4

255 Thomas St, Dandenong, 3175

To look at a Persian carpet is to gaze into a world of artistic magnificence nurtured for more then 2,500 years. The Iranians were among the first carpet weaver of the ancient civilizations and, through centuries of creativity and ingenuity building upon the talents of the past, achieved a unique degree of excellence.

Afghanistan also has long been fa-

mous for its carpets. Afghan car-pets are special because of the

quality of wool that is used and the tightness of the weave.

If you are thinking about getting your message across in

the Afghan community in Australia or promoting your

business or services among the Afghan community,

“Arman” monthly is the best choice. Being the only

regularly published and widely distributed Dari lan-

guage magazine in Australia, “Arman” magazine is a

valuable source of news, information, feature articles as

well as a guide to find products and services for Afghan

community. For more information about “Arman”

magazine please call our manager, Mr. Nasirie on 0423

463 971 or just send us an email to

arman@bamyan.org.au.