Community Involvement

Before it was first thought of as a possible solution, the family had expressed a desire to come to Australia if they could not go back to Bhutan.

At that time I encouraged them and sent them a lot of information so they could make an informed decision.

I also got the idea that community involvement would assist their integration and feeling of belonging. I spoke to many people on Bribie about this and Cath Fouracre from the Bribie Weekly published a front page article about them in April 2007.

In October 2008 I spoke to the Bribie Rotary Club and the Bribie Uniting Church Ladies Fellowship to try to get together a group of people who would help socialise and mentor this family. I felt that we were so lucky to be living on Bribie that we could share it with a family who had been living in awful circumstances for 15 years, and that they could be welcomed, even adopted, into the community.

My husband and I have completed 4 nights of training to be Volunteer Refugee Support workers, through MDA in Brisbane and we will be working closely with a case worker from MDA assigned to this family. We will be their "buddy family" but feel it is important that they be exposed to a wide section of the community in order to gain acceptance and employment opportunities.