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 Can't Come form

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 -the password was in the email with this newsletter.


Diary dates

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!

Welcome to the Dandenong Robinson Campus Newsletter!

New Faces

We’d like to extend a warm welcome and congratulations to Hannah, who has taken on the challenge of co-ordinating the campus with Aidan. Hannah has been doing a superb job as transport co-ordinator and will now be working her magic as a co-ordinator. If you haven’t met Hannah yet, just ask Aidan on Saturday to introduce her.

We’d also like to say thank you to all new volunteers that have joined us recently. Watching the campus grow is wonderfully exciting and in the next few weeks, our crew can look forward to having a few more Sudanese families join us. Thank you also to all SAILors, who have helped show new volunteers the ropes and made them feel welcome.
 

Church Renovations

You may have noticed recently that the church grounds have turned into a construction zone. While works will be taking place for some time into the foreseeable future, all the bricks and mortar should eventually give way to rejuvenated new ground. Like the charming new fence around the front of the church, the renovations will mean that our good ship SAIL will soon be considerably more handsome!

This month’s theme: Save the Environment!
 
In light of the recent focus on global warming, the current theme is ‘Save the Environment!’ Theme worksheets have been relocated along with the photo-boards, and will now be found every week on the table by the hall entrance. The return of the recycling bin is one feature of this cycle’s theme so please encourage all SAILors and tutors to use it!

SAIL Xtend: Cooking up a Storm

In the last Xtend cycle, SAILors from Robinson and Langhorne campuses undertook art classes and created pottery and magnificent sculptures. Some of the works of art included eagles, dolphins and even a man-eating dinosaur! A big thanks to everybody who volunteered their time to the Xtend program.

This Xtend cycle has welcomed the return of SAIL chef Chris’ cooking classes and each week after tutoring time, our SAILors have cooked up a storm in the kitchen. Culinary masterpieces have included pizza, pasta, chicken and chips.

If you would like to get involved in the Xtend program, please ask Aidan or Hannah on Saturday.

Setting SAIL on time

We’d like to thank everybody for arriving early and helping set up. This is a gigantic help as it means our ship is ready to sail at 11:00am sharp. Just a reminder that we would like to start at this time every week so if everybody could do their best to arrive at 10:50am, that would be great. If you or your SAILor are having difficulty arriving on time, please speak to Aidan or Hannah, who will do their best to assist you.

The development of each and every SAILor is of utmost concern to us and as we only have 90 minutes each week, we should aim to make the most of it – our SAILors need every second they can get!

WholeSAIL News

SAIL in the Press

As you may already know, the SAIL Program only engages with media opportunities of
its own in very limited circumstances. We have this policy to ensure that the Sudanese community are portrayed on their own terms, rather than through the SAIL Program.

On Saturday 17 May 2008, The Saturday Age newspaper published two stories that mentioned the SAIL Program, including photos of SAILors. The first we knew of these references was when we saw the paper on 17 May. The photos had been taken with our knowledge but without reference to publication in the Saturday Age and without knowing the content with which they would be linked. The articles were written by Farah Farouque without contacting us at all.

Needless to say, we were upset that this went ahead without our knowledge because it was in breach of our own policy but it also linked the SAIL Program to a political debate in which we, as a service provider rather than a lobbying body, wanted no part. We were concerned also that the articles told a SAILor’s story with reference to the assistance of the SAIL Program, where the SAIL Program had only a token role in the SAILor's story. We made our disquiet known to The Age on the same day these articles were published. The editor, Michael Gordon, called Matthew, the SAIL Founder on 19 May 2008 and apologised that he had not ensured that the SAIL Program was contacted to check that the
reference to the organisation was authorized before the articles went to press.

For the record, if you are approached to undertake any media about your involvement at SAIL, please be sure to check with us before having any further contact. This will ensure that no further stories are released that portray the Sudanese community as being dependant on the SAIL Program. The community should be portrayed on their own terms whenever such opportunities arise.

Multicultural Arts Victoria presents
EMERGE FESTIVAL
Presented and produced by Multicultural Arts Victoria, this dynamic arts
festival celebrates Victoria's many diverse refugee and emerging cultures
in a series of exciting events around Melbourne from June 10th to July
20th. From Africa to the Far East, from the emerging to the established,
from the traditional to the contemporary, music, dance, film, visual arts,
cultural foods, crafts and ceremonies - there is something for everyone!
  Attracting capacity audiences in past years, Emerge Festival commemorates
the United Nations World Refugee Day and Refugee Week in Australia.
Highlights this year include:

  MUSIC EVENTS..
  Emerge Festival Main Event
  Celebrating Refugee Week in Victoria - 'A Place to Call Home'
  Sunday June 15th 12-5pm FREE
  @ Fitzroy Town Hall & Napier St, Fitzroy
  Be part of this massive cultural celebration as the magnificent Fitzroy
Town Hall opens its doors and closes off the street for 2 non stop stages
of world music, a vibrant cultural marketplace, the aromas of an Ethiopian
coffee ceremony, tasty authentic foods from all corners of the globe, FREE
cultural workshops in Ethiopian dance, Bollywood Dance, Pacific Island Body
Percussion and African Drumming, henna tattoos, hairbraiding and much more.
Featured artists will include Tabura (West Papua), Laloran (East Timor),
Black Roots (Congo), Muhanamwe (Guinea), Angel's Voices Band (Congo), Afro
Habesha Band (Ethiopia), Eritrean Star Band, Mesopotamia (Iraq), Mehr
Ensemble (Iran), Meltemi (Turkey/ Greece), Breakout Hip Hop Dance Crew, Mai
Nachungi Dance Company Inc and Sudanese groups St.Bakhita's Choir, Zel Zel
Band & Rom Amer.

  ABC Music Deli Free Concert
  Musiki Deli - Songs from South Africa, Sudan, Congo and Burundi
  Thursday June 26th 6.30pm for a 7pm start
  @ Iwaki Auditoruim, ABC Southbank Centre, Southbank Blvd, Southbank
  No bookings - arrive early to ensure your seat!
  Hosted by ABC Music Deli's Paul Petran, this beautiful concert will
feature sweet vocal harmonies and acoustic sounds from the African
continent featuring Valanga Khoza (South Africa), William Kadima (Congo)
and St.Bakhita's Sudanese Community Choir.

  FILM...
  Stories of an African Australia Short Film Screenings
  Friday July 4th 7.00pm (Q&A with filmmakers after session)
  Sunday July 6th 3.45pm
  @ ACMI Cinemas, Australian Centre for the Moving Image
  Federation Square, Flinders Street, Melbourne
  Tickets: Visit the ACMI box office at Federation Square or phone 8663
2583.
  Presented and produced by Multicultural Arts Victoria in partnership with
OPEN CHANNEL, this exciting film project has provided a voice and platform
for emerging young artists from African refugee and culturally diverse
backgrounds. Five short films created by and featuring the young African
artists and performers will consider, document and celebrate the diversity
and dynamism of new African Australian cultures in Melbourne. The
filmmakers have worked collaboratively over the past 6 months with
dramaturge Gorkem Acaroglu and director/editor Thomas Baricevic to bring
their stories to the screen.  The result is five unique films that will
entertain, inform and surprise:
  Inkululeko directed by Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore
  Broken Dreams directed by Ezeldin Deng
  Job Interview directed by Sara Elagha
  True Love directed by Abraham Adet
  The Journey directed by Befekir Kebede

  OTHER.
  Refugee Week Forum: Are we there yet? Where we are up to in the struggle
for refugee rights.
  Tuesday June 17th 6pm- 8pm
  @ BMW Edge at Federation Square, Flinders St, Melbourne
  No bookings necessary. For further info visit www.rac-vic.org

Refugee Week 2008: Sunday, 15 June  – Sunday, 21 June 2008

Don't forget that Refugee Week 2008 kicks off this Sunday and the national theme is "A Place to Call Home". To keep up to date with plans for Refugee Week as it draws closer, see http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/newsevents/refugeeweek.html

SAIL Total Trivia

Sudan borders 9 countries and an important sea. Can you name them all?

ANSWER: Egypt, Libya, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Red Sea…whew!

Thank you for SAILing into Winter 2008.
Aidan, Hannah, Nik and Cara.