SAIL NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER: Altona campus (April 2006)

NEWSLETTER: Altona campus (April 2006)

The 'let us know' list
1. If any of your contact details have changed, please let us know.
2. If you are planning to have contact with your student outside of SAIL hours you must let us know first and complete the contact request form.
3. If you intend to bring a friend to SAIL please direct them to the website first and direct them to apply online or just let us know beforehand.
4. Let us know if you are going to miss a Saturday via the online "Can't Come Sheet".
5. Please check and read your emails each week - if possible, Friday is best!
6. Please let us know before you speak publicly or publish an article about SAIL.

Ongoing offers
1. Photocopying- for any SAIL related photocopying, simply mark the pages from the books you want copied and give the book to the co-ordinators on Saturday- it will be ready for you the following week!
2. The Tutor Resources section of the website is available at all times to provide tutors with ideas, games, work-sheets and support. We strongly suggest that if you are experiencing difficulties of any kind when working with your student, you post a request for advice on the SAIL Panel of Experts Bulletin Board.

Diary dates
1. The week 5 tutor talks for 2006 occur on 11 March, 15 April, 20 May, 24 June, 5 August, 9 September, 14 October, 18 November
2. If you are interested in attending any upcoming African Australian events click here for the details.

Please read this newsletter in the following week, it gives updates on SAIL past, present and future!

New Faces

No doubt many of you have noticed the many new faces popping up around SAIL in the last few weeks.  We are lucky enough to have had some large tours and some very enthusiastic new volunteers signing up to be part of SAIL Altona.

We are equally lucky to have had some new families join us, as well as relatives of existing families who have just arrived in Australia.

It is very exciting to see how much the campus has grown of the past few months and we look forward to growing even more as the year progresses.

Please help make these new volunteers and families feel welcome by introducing yourself and having a chat if you see a new face.

 

Week Five Talks

It’s nearly that time again!  On Saturday the 22nd of April we will run our first tutor and community talks for the year. Please note this date in your diary.

For the tutors, we have someone from AMES who will be talking about teaching English as a second language and who will offer some helpful hints.

For the community, we have some people from the Springvale community legal centre.

Both talks will start at approximately 1.00pm and run for 45 minutes.

 

SAIL About Footscray Visits

On Saturday the 25th of February, SAIL Altona played host to SAIL’s Footscray campus.  We all gathered in the hall before making our way down to the beach for a discovery walk, hole digging, sandcastle making and swimming. The weather went our way and the sun shone right up until we left the beach when it started to pour.  We shared lunch with the Footscray people before we all piled into cars, sandy, wet and exhausted and went home. 

The day was a fantastic opportunity to get to know our fellow SAILors at Footscray, but also a great opportunity for Altona’s students and volunteers to mingle and get to know each other better.

 

Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony Rehearsal

This year, Melbourne played host to the 18th Commonwealth Games, with over 4,500 athletes participating from 71 nations. Just two days prior to the Games’ official kick-off, 10 lucky SAILors got a sneak peek at a flying tram, a little boy and a duck (?!) and the dazzling fiery final. A big thanks to 3ZZZ for making the tickets for the Opening Ceremony Rehearsal possible, and also to our volunteers who brought our future athletes to the show!

 

Plastic bags

Most weeks we are fortunate enough to have a large amount of bread leftover, which is put into plastic bags and given to SAILors to take home.  Unfortunately our supply of plastic shopping bags is running low.  If anybody has stray plastic bags seeking a new home, we would love if you could please drop them off to the kitchen staff.

 

Magazines

Calling all avid magazine readers - if any of you have any old or unwanted magazines at home they would make a brilliant addition to our Library. Please give them to David, our new librarian.

 

WholeSAIL news

SAILAbout to Portland

The first SAIL camp of the year saw 8 SAILor teens hiking the Great South Western Walk, near Portland, Western Victoria. In spite of some torrid weather that saw everyone in bed at 8:30pm one night, the camp was a great success.

Of note were the four boys who attended and spent half the camp writing raps and the other half collecting shells on the beach (‘aw man, this is fully beautiful’). In honour of this mixture of activities and the dress code adopted by the SAILors in attendance, the camp was labeled ‘Gangstars and seashells’. Big-up yo!

A fuller report is on the website of the organizers from the Friends of the Walk – click here.

SAIL About and experience the Sights, Sounds and Tastes of Africa!

Free Activities 23 April | 12noon -5pm | the Arts Centre, Hamer Hall foyers

If you are looking for an excuse to take SAILors into town, here’s an option! The Arts Centre and the African community present free music, dance, storytelling and performances, and food for purchase with the foyers of Hamer Hall transformed into a thriving African marketplace. Please fill out the usual forms if you intend to SAIL away to the Hall for this.

Sudan Emergency Appeal Photographic Auction Association

Sudan Emergency Appeal Photographic Auction Association Incorporated (SEAPAA) is a voluntary association formed by a community group of volunteers. In hosting an exhibition and auction to celebrate Australian photography, SEAPAA’s aim is to raise funds and awareness of the current and continuing humanitarian crisis in Sudan.


All profits from this event will go to World Vision’s Sudan Crisis Appeal.

SEAPAA will showcase a selection of art works donated by renowned Australian photographers while at the same time taking the opportunity to raise funds for Sudan at Federation Square from 30th May to the 9th June 2006

SAILor’s Long Journey

Most SAILors have amazing stories to tell but few are documented. This has just changed for one SAILor, Sara Karim, about whom a book has just been released. By Melbourne journalist, Peter Browne the book was recently published and titled “The Longest Journey”. It compiles first-hand interviews of refugees, policy makers, aid workers and officials to track the Sudanese refugee journey from Nairobi, Kakuma, Geneva, Canberra and Melbourne. The author discusses the opportunities and obstacles facing refugees in the resettlement process, and asks if Australia’s resettlement policy is really fair.  An exceptional read and great insight into the experience of the majority of SAILors.


Job offer - Beacon Foundation Project Coordinator

Victoria’s Beacon Foundation is seeking a full-time Project Coordinator to manage the foundation’s projects and to provide support for the rest of the team. The Foundation is currently focused on the “No Dole” project, which specifically targets Victorian youth and aims to strengthen connections between students, business, industry and the community. For more information, contact Jane Artup on 0404 465 493 or the Foundation at (03) 9248 3367

Totally Trivia

A Sudanese man was forced to marry a goat after the animal’s owner caught him having intimate relations with it. The BBC reported that the goat’s owner, Mr Alifi from the Upper Nile State had heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February 2006 and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up". Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case. "They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi said.

This idea has been referred by us to the Victorian Law Reform Commission. Further submissions would be welcome.

We would like to thank everyone for such a brilliant and smooth start to SAIL 06!

 

Wayn, Catherine and Matthew