Korumburra embraces Ramadan celebrations

THE Burra Welcome Committee celebrated the end of Ramadan with their sponsored family on Saturday. 

The important date on the Islamic calendar also fell on the families one month anniversary of their settlement in Australia.

The momentous occasion was celebrated at the Jumbunna Hall Park with the committee’s families, along with other community members and a neighbouring Syrian family. 

For the Al Ahmad family, moving to Australia has been full of many challenges particularly navigating the start of their new lives in the foreign language of English, which has had many layers of complexity.

Using Google Translate and Arabic interpreters, the sponsor group kicked into action, sorting out administrative business, along with showing them day-to-day functions of life in Australia.

Mohamad and Basha, who are parents of four beautiful children, have expressed how happy they are to be here and having met so many welcoming community members. 

They conveyed how challenging it has been leaving family and friends behind in both Lebanon and in their home country, Syria.

The Burra Welcome Committee recognise the importance of the family’s religion and culture, and have been actively helping them make connections to other Arabic speakers and communities.

Community Refugee Integration and Settlement program (CRISP) member, Karen Walker, took the family on the V-Line bus to Dandenong Market last week noting, “Mohamad and Basha were clearly excited to see the vibrant diversity of people in the market, and to buy familiar produce for their Syrian dishes.” 

Embracing the opportunity to celebrate multiculturalism, members of the committee were excited to join the family for Eid al-Fitr, which is also known as the ‘festival of the breaking of the fast’, with celebrations beginning when Ramadan ended on Friday.

Ramadan is when Muslim’s worldwide abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset for a whole month, while praying and reflecting on community.

The Jumbunna celebration of Eid al-Fitr was enriched with Arabic food, music, dancing, drumming and emphasised the universal necessity for community connection.

Community Refugee Integration and Settlement program (CRISP), of which Burra Welcome Committee is part, exemplifies how community engagement can successfully support refugees to become part of our rural landscape. 

Through financial, emotional, and operational sponsorship, everyday people can form a CRISP group, who become integral to the settlement of a refugee family.