Multicultural Communities Council Gold Coast -July 2020 Newsletter 

Thirty languages now available across Queensland!

Thank you for all your support in spreading the word about our I Speak You Language Program. We've had overwhelming interest from volunteers and now have 80 volunteers making calls in 30 languages! 

We'd now like to reach more potential participants so please let anyone know who could benefit from regular chats in their own language. The program is available to any CALD community members in Queensland and is able to support those in hotel quarantine who may be feeling especially isolated at this time.

Available languages include the below but we are also happy to recruit volunteers for new languages as needed!

• Arabic
• Bengali
• Bosnian
• Bulgarian
• Cantonese
• Croatian
• Farsi
• French
• German
• Gujarati
• Hakka
• Hindi
• Hokkein
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Macedonian
• Malay
• Persian
• Punjabi 
• Russian
• Samoan
• Serbian
• Slovenian
• Spanish
• Swahili
• Tagalog
• Tamil
• Thai
• Ukrainian

If you would like to refer someone, click here to download our referral form. You can also call 1800 95 40 40 or email ispeak@mccgc.com.au to join the program. 

CURA Wellness Centre is now open!

We're happy to announce we have re-opened our CURA Wellness Centre for seniors in Ashmore! We are now open Monday to Friday for morning tea, lunch activities and of course BINGO! We have a COVID-safe plan in place which includes restricted customer numbers and we are following all government protocols around social distancing and best practice hygiene.

We are also continuing to offer a range of services in-home and in the community including grocery shopping, transportation, domestic assistance, social visits, respite care, activities and more. So if you know any seniors who are needing extra assistance, please let them know about us!

For more information call 1800 94 12 12 or email info@curacares.com.

NDIS Support Coordination for CALD communities  

If you know any CALD community members who are in need of culturally sensitive NDIS Support Coordination, please let them know that MCCGC/CURA's Support Coordinators have extensive experience working within the CALD space and can work with translators. 

What is support coordination? This support will assist you to build the skills you need to understand, implement and use your NDIS plan. A support coordinator will work with you to ensure a mix of supports are used to increase your capacity to maintain relationships, manage service delivery tasks, live more independently and be included in your community.

A Support Coordinator will support you to understand and implement the funded supports in your plan and link you to community, mainstream and other government services. A Support Coordinator will focus on supporting you to build skills and direct your life as well as connect you to providers.

Your Support Coordinator will assist you to negotiate with providers about what they will offer you and how much it will cost out of your plan. Support coordinators will ensure service agreements and service bookings are completed. They will help build your ability to exercise choice and control, to coordinate supports and access your local community.

They can also assist you in planning ahead to prepare for your plan review.

Support coordinators will assist you to 'optimise' your plan ensuring that you are getting the most out of your funded supports.

To contact our support coordiantors, please email kristied@curacares.com. 

Stage 3 of eased restrictions begins 3 July 2020

Click here to view the Roadmap for Stage 3 including changes to borders, gatherings, business and economy. 

Family, friends and community

• Private, non-commercial (e.g. home) gatherings of up to 100 with friends and family

• Weddings and funerals (max 100 people)

• Maximum number of persons at museums, art galleries, libraries and historic sites determined by the one person per 4 square metre rule

• Sport, recreation and fitness organisations when following a COVID Safe Industry Plan:

  • resumption of activity including competition and physical contact is permitted on the field of play

  • indoor sports facilities can open with one person per 4 square metres (off the field of play)

  • outdoor sports facilities can open with physical distancing (off the field of play).

Businesses and economy

• Maximum number of customers for a business at any one time is determined by the 4 square metre rule

• For smaller venues below 200 square metres, businesses can have one person per 2 square metres up to 50 persons at a time

• The following businesses and areas may re-open with a COVID Safe Plan:

  • casinos, gaming and gambling venues (including electronic gaming machines)

  • non-therapeutic massage

  • saunas and bathhouses

  • nightclubs

  • food courts

• Office-based workers can return to their place of work

• Up to 25,000 spectators or 50% of capacity (whichever is the lesser) at Queensland’s Major Sports Facilities, with a COVID Safe Plan

• Concert venues, theatres and auditoriums can open and have up to 50% capacity or one person per 4 square metres (whichever is the greater), with a COVID Safe Plan

• More events allowed:

  • fewer than 500 people – no approval needed when following a COVID Safe Event Checklist

  • 500 to 10,000 people – need a COVID Safe Event Plan approved by local public health units

  • over 10,000 people – need a COVID Safe Event Plan approved by the Queensland Chief Health Officer

• COVID Safe Industry Plans continue to apply with revisions to reflect changes in Stage 3. COVID Safe Checklists continue to apply.

Initial Covid-19 responses to Seasonal workers (SWP)

Janine Bliss (Qld ACRATH Coordinator)

Currently there are 6,000+ Seasonal agricultural workers on the Seasonal Workers Program (SWP) throughout Australia.  What was the effect of Coronavirus (Covid 19) on these workers?

Based on my Bundaberg experience, SWP workers in Bundaberg, Childers and Innisfail received NO information from the government in relation to Coronavirus.  Workers had no correspondence providing Coronavirus information including basic information and government responses, updates, or translated information.  The presumption that we all have internet access is erroneous. Not having English as a first language is a further obstacle in seeking and understanding information and health warnings.

Mainstream Australia received regular health and hygiene information but none of the SWP we had contact with received this basic information.  The workers were completely unaware of the national and state alerts, thereby putting themselves and others at risk.  On the 28th March 2020, 10 workers travelled from the farms to town (Bundaberg) in a minibus where they then went shopping, mixed with townsfolk, and then got back into the minibus to return to the farm.  Then another group of workers did the same.  This example highlights the lack of information regarding responses to coronavirus including the need for social distancing, washing hands frequently, avoidance of touching eyes, nose and mouth, practicing respiratory hygiene.

As a result of the lack of information reaching SWP workers, they risked becoming a vulnerable group to coronavirus.  Once we became aware of the problem, Information was gathered, and 2 volunteer pastoral carers worked tirelessly to get information to the workers.  Luckily, to date, there appears to be no positive cases of the virus amongst the workers.  However, we need to learn from this experience and be prepared in the event a 2nd wave does occur.

So while this effected Qld workers, how many SWP across the country were unable to access supports?  How can we support SWP workers in our region?

For more information contact qldcoordinator@acrath.org.au

Members of the Month 

Relationships Australia Queensland

There are times in life when we all need help. Relationships Australia QLD are committed to offering the best possible counselling, mediation, education and support services in a professional, relaxed and confidential environment.

We are committed to social justice and inclusion. We have no religious affiliations and respect the rights of everyone to live with dignity and safety and to enjoy healthy relationships. A leader in relationship support services, we provide services from more than 30 centres across Queensland and can work with you face-to-face, by telephone, on-line, in one of our centres, or elsewhere.

We recognise that Queensland is a culturally and linguistically diverse state and is continuously working towards developing a quality service that is inclusive and sensitive to all Queenslanders regardless of their cultural, language, ethnic or religious background.

Here at Relationships Australia (Qld), we believe healthy relationships are essential for the wellbeing of children, families and communities. We understand the impact that COVID19 is having on individuals, relationships, families and communities. That’s why we’re taking steps to ensure we can continue to support you as we navigate this new world together.

We’ve introduced a range of measures focused on protecting the health and safety of clients and staff, including moving some services to phone and video.

If you have an upcoming appointment you wish to discuss, or you’re in need of support, you can contact us 24/7 on 1300 364 277.

Our website offers options of multiple languages at the bottom of the front page at: https://www.raq.org.au/

Adult Migration English Program (AMEP TAFE)

Hi we’re Michele and Jane and we work as Case Managers in the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) and the Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) Program at TAFE Queensland Gold Coast. Since 1948, the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) has been delivering free, settlement-focussed English lessons to thousands of newly arrived migrants all over Australia. Students are offered 510 hours and the possibility of accessing more hours when they have finished via three different sub-programs. Free childcare is also available for eligible students. English language lessons are offered face to face here at our Southport, Coomera and Coolangatta campus. Lessons are also offered online via the Zoom app as well as through Distance Learning and the Volunteer Tutor Service where you can be supported in your home. During COVID-19, we have been delivering lessons via Zoom online and delivering workbooks to those students who were unable to access online classes to keep them engaged in learning.

After completing the AMEP, students may also be eligible for a further 650 hours of English lessons with the SEE Program through Centrelink. The SEE Program helps students to improve their language, literacy and numeracy skills to better participate in further study or the workplace. Jane and I interview and assess new students and then follow them through their studies, assisting them with anything ranging from pathway advice to having documents translated. Please contact us for further information on 5581 8613 – we look forward to hearing from you. 

MCCGC Membership Program

Join the family and be part of the peak multicultural organisation of the Gold Coast, support us to continue to make the community more inclusive and enjoy the Membership Program benefits.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Good story of the month

This month we're celebratnig our CURA customer, Arthur Kala, and his 101st birthday!

Arthur was born during the Spanish Flu Pandemic in Finland and is presently surviving the Coronavirus Pandemic on Queensland’s Gold Coast. He had a happy childhood because he was born into a large family that lived and worked on a farm. He has many pleasant stories to tell about this childhood. His main interests were sport and reading.
As a young man he was sent as a sergeant in the army to defend Finland against Russia at the border in Karelia. The campaign lasted five years.

After the war he trained as a building engineer, which became his profession until he retired. In 1960 Arthur moved to Australia with his wife, Eva, and four children to fulfil a construction contract for Jack and Bill Waterhouse. It was only supposed to be for six months but the family decided to stay so Arthur built a house for them and they became Australian citizens the following year. The family explored their new home on many camping trips around the east coast of the country: they had caught the Travel Bug.

In 1973, when all the children had left home, Arthur and Eva moved to Queensland and formed a building company, Bribie Constructions, with three other Finns. They built a number of 3-storey apartment buildings in Brisbane and then moved to the Gold Coast where they specialized in formwork for high-rise concrete constructions. Their first building was a 52 storey block near Southport. They went on to build many more and became known as the “Flying Finns” because they could construct two floors every 8 days.
When Arthur retired in the early 1990’s he and Eva continued travelling around the world for some years. They also spent many years travelling back to Finland for the Finnish summer, until Eva became ill and couldn’t go any more. Eva Passed away in 2014.

Arthur now lives in the house he built 36 years ago on the Gold Coast with his oldest daughter, Kristina. He has three children still living, seven grandchildren and one great granddaughter, born in May 2020.

We all look forward to celebrating his 101st birthday on 8th July!

CÜRA is a branch of MCCGC (Multicultural Communities Council Gold Coast Ltd) and specialises in providing tailored care services including CÜRA Kitchen, CÜRA Active Living, CÜRA Health & Well-being and CÜRA In-Home Support.   Multicultural Communities Council Gold Coast  Ltd trading as CÜRA Community Services.