New migrants in Geelong

from Peceli
On Thursday night we attended the Annual Meeting of Diversitat, the Geelong Migrant Resource Centre organisation that grew from a concern for new migrants to the region. The early migrants sixty years ago were mainly from Italy and Greece. The most recent migrant communities have come from either Sudan or Burma such as from the Karen tribes. We were delighted to have a Karen group sing to us at the meeting and I was surprised to notice that the songs were Christian, though in their language. The Sudanese and the Karen families who have come to Geelong as refugees are often busy with intensive English language classes or one to one conversation. There are over forty different ethnic communities represented on the Diversitat Council. It was an Awards Night also and I was honoured with a certificate as a representative from the Pacific and thirteen years on the committee.