Welcome to STARTTS' second quarterly newsletter for the year. In this edition you will find:

- Now on sale: STARTTS Refugee Ball tickets

- Attend 'Growing Refugee Communities: Social Development and Community Gardens'

- Read about the success of our Families in Cultural Transition (FICT) program in the Riverina

- Discover who our Humanitarian Award 2015 winners are

- and wrap-ups from recent events for Refugee Week and the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Thank you for all your support, and we look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events!

Richard Walker
STARTTS Public Affairs Coordinator

We hope you're as excited as we are - Refugee Ball is back for 2015!!

The Refugee Ball is one of the most diverse and multicultural events of its kind happening right now, with so many people from different walks of life coming together for the common cause of supporting our work with trauma survivors.

Mark the date in your diary now:

 Thursday October 8, 7pm                          Dockside at Darling Harbour

Over the coming months we'll be sharing all the news about our guest speakers, entertainment and all the other things that make the Ball special. But for now, you can see all the highlights from last year's Ball on our website.

But for those of you who don't need convincing, tickets to Refugee Ball are available now! 

Here's how to get tickets:

• Buy online here
• Download the invitation, fill it out and return to us

We've sold out two years running and will do so again, so don't wait!

Join us for a special Community Development Evening which will discuss the guiding principles behind community gardens as a form of social development. Our guest presenter is Phil Pettitt, coordinator of the Community Green program. Following Phil Pettitt’s presentation is STARTTS’ Enterprise Facilitation Project Officer, Des Dejrangsi. He will showcase STARTTS’ community garden and farming projects.

"The garden is like a refuge for me" - you can read more about how the garden has been important to the Karen community on our website here.

Families in Cultural Transition (FICT) is one of STARTTS most successful programs, helping newly arrived refugees learn about Australia and settle successfully in their new country.

FICT has had great success in Leeton, a rural town of 11,000 in the Riverina area of southern NSW. Leeton is also home to around 60 Afghan men, most of whom are Hazara. The story of how these men truly became part of their community involves many Leeton residents, including a courageous mayor and a Hazara refugee who has made Leeton his home.

Read the full article

Our Humanitarian Awards recognise the hard work and achievements of both individuals and organisations that play a substantial role in improving the lives of refugees.

Big congratulations to the 2015 winners:

Refugee community worker - Antoinette Abdelseed
Refugee supporter – Ngareta Rossell
Youth – Shabeera Zia
Education - Anette Bremer
Media – Rosie Scott
Government/Legal – Shane Prince
Rural and Regional – Mohammed Yarob Haddad
Business – Ravi Prasad and ‘The International Shift’ at Parliament on King
Best project – Healing through Evan Yako’s Drumming
 

This year’s Refugee Week Launch had as its theme "With courage let us all combine", a lyric from Australia’s national anthem. It was a line that resonated strongly with the audience at the launch event in Wollongong, demonstrating the power of just what can happen when Australian society does come together and ‘combine’.

Read more about the event

To mark the 2015 International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (26 June), STARTTS and Amnesty International held a vibrant discussion on how we can uphold the right to rehabilitation from torture at a time when the need is greater than ever.

Read more about this event