2008

Thursday 20th March 2008
Powerful Partnership at Penola House

“Find the worst possible house in the best possible street and do it up, build a garden, and make sure it’s not got white ants. Apart from that you can improve anything.”

Real estate advice is just one of many areas in which “Penola House”, a new local service makes a difference to the lives of the Hunter’s refugee community.

“Penola House” is a cooperative partnership between refugees and Novocastrians and aims to be a centre of fun, healing and communication. Operating under the auspices of the Sisters of St Joseph Lochinvar, Penola House is a project of the Josephite Refugee Support Network (JRSN), a group committed to the empowerment of refugees who have settled in the Newcastle - Hunter region of Australia.

“Our vision is to move the refugees from dependence on services we provide to an empowered position where they take responsibility for providing services for one another and support new arrivals as they join our community,” said Sr Patricia Egan RSJ, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of St Joseph Lochinvar.

The volunteers at Penola House offer the kind of practical support that many people would receive from extended families and their social networks. They provide assistance with transport to essential appointments, child care, and attending antenatal classes to support a number of refugee women during childbirth.

“It’s never easy for any of us to settle in a new place, but when you have no support, no money, and limited or no English, not to mention having survived the most unbelievable hardships, there are huge issues to work through,” explains Sr Betty Brown RSJ, Co-ordinator of the JRSN. “It’s those very simple things we take for granted that we can assist them with. They don’t have the local knowledge, so they don’t know that we have Baby Health Clinics or how to find child care. They don’t know the sort of support bodies that they can get to help them.”

According to Dominican Sister Diana Santelben OP, Secretary of the JRSN, “We have many programs and activities we wish to pursue. We’re working on a community garden, and we want to offer cooking and craft classes, computer skills training, office administration experience, job search and employment support and child care.”

Aware of the terrible atrocities and traumas many refugees have endured, Sr Diana is very keen to establish a “Room of Memories”, which will consist of written stories and other artefacts of the refugee experience.

Penola House will be officially blessed and opened on Tuesday 25 March at 5:00 pm and the opening will include performances by local refugee groups.

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