B.A. (Legal Studies) Dip.Community Social
Justice
Michael arrived in Australia as a refugee in 1996,
after living in Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya and has been working with
the New Hope Foundation since 2002. He has worked on New Hope’s
Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Services program and is
currently working in its Employment Program with its focus on
refugees settling in the Western suburbs. Michael has been actively
involved in fostering partnerships between New Hope and community
refugee youth groups, whilst maintaining a keen interest in
community development activities with African refugees generally.
His longstanding contributions to refugee issues saw Michael
receive the Victorian Multicultural Commission’s Youth Ambassador
Award in 2002 and his selection as Victorian delegate to the
National Youth Roundtable in 2003. Michael is an accredited
interpreter in Dinka and Sudanese Arabic.
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B.S.W.
May Farah has worked as a Community Settlement Worker with the
New Hope Migrant and Refugee Centre since 2003. She has many years
experience working with refugees, migrants and displaced people
both in Australia and overseas having lengthy experience working
with displaced people in Lebanon before arriving in Australia in
1994. Since then, May has worked with newly arrived migrants and
refugees from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds both in
client case work services and community development projects. She
is a registered migration agent, a qualified social worker, a
member of the Australian Association of Social Workers and a board
member of the Immigrant Women’s Domestic Violence Service.
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B.A. (Hons) Dip.Ed. Dip.Interpreting/Translating
Kass commenced working for the NHMRC in the Aged Care Access
& Equity Program in 2004 and currently manages the Employment
Program targeting refugees settling in the Western Suburbs. She has
qualifications in language studies with experience in teaching in
adult language centres, translation research, community
broadcasting and managed language services at the Royal Melbourne
Hospital from 1997 till 2003. Kass has also been actively involved
in publicly promoting the provision of professional language
services through the Australian Institute of Interpreters and
Translators. She is a professionally accredited interpreter and
translator and is a board member of Fronditha Care aged
services.
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B.S.W. LLB
Pamela Kosij is the Settlement Services Team Leader at the New
Hope MRC with over 15 years working in the sector. Her
professional experience spans direct client service delivery, group
work, community development and capacity building as well as the
management of settlement services provisioning. Pamela also manages
the Peer to Peer Professional Development Program for new and
isolated Community Settlement Workers across Melbourne and regional
Victoria, providing specialised training and mentoring to
workers. Immediately prior to her current role Pamela worked
as the New Hope MRC’s Community Planning & Research Officer and
previously with the Ecumenical Migration Centre and South Eastern
Region MRC. Her community capacity building work with new and
emerging communities is characterised by a commitment to community
empowerment and ownership and the fostering of partnership
approaches with all stakeholders.
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Diploma in Community Services (Welfare Studies)
Mary Riek arrived in Australia in 1995, a refugee from South
Sudan and one of the first South Sudanese to settle in Victoria. As
a former UNHCR worker at refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya,
she understands the hurdles that many refugees face in resettlement
and the importance of Australia’s settlement services. Mary has
worked as an interpreter with TIS and other private translation and
interpreting agencies whilst completing her Diploma in Community
Services. She also worked with the Victorian Co-operative on
Children Services (VICSEG) for two years before joining the
settlement team at the New Hope Migrant and Refugee Centre in 2003
as a Community Settlement Worker. Her current employment
encompasses casework, community work and the extensive delivery of
cross cultural training programs. Mary is currently
undertaking a Bachelor of Social Work degree at Victoria
University.
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B. Business
Michelle has worked with the New Hope Migrant and Refugee Centre
as a Community Development Worker since 2004. She has
provided support and direction for a range of community
development initiatives and has worked closely with newly arrived
refugees, in particular the South Sudanese Community in the
southern region. Michelle completed a Bachelor of Business in
1994 and then travelled the globe for a few years working abroad in
various countries, among them teaching English in South
America. Upon her return to Australia she has worked in both
voluntary and paid positions assisting asylum seekers and the
unemployed. Michelle holds a Certificate IV in Assessment and
Workplace Training and has delivered a range of cross cultural
training and employment related programs to individuals, and both
corporate and community based Organisations.
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B.Arts B.S.W. (Hons)
Heidi Zwick has been a Settlement and Community Development
social worker with the New Hope Migrant and Refugee Centre since
2004 with many years of prior experience working with people from
culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds both in Australia
and overseas. Heidi received her Honours Degree in Social Work from
Monash University in 1991 and following this managed various
projects focussing on disadvantaged children in Albania, Georgia
(Former USSR) and then Sierra Leone with international NGO’s until
2003. Upon her return to Australia she initially worked for the
Northern Migrant Resource Centre, before accepting a position with
the New Hope Migrant and Refugee Centre where she has been engaged
in a range of community development projects with the Horn of
Africa, Sudanese and Burmese communities, as well as providing case
work services to refugees and migrants entering Australia under the
humanitarian and family migration programs.
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