Moving house costs money, and if you are relocating to another town or region it is even more expensive. So how do you pay for moving when you’ve had to flee your country, you need to help your loved ones to escape the horror in your homeland, but you don’t have any money?

Community Connections’ multicultural services are now offering the No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) to low-income refugees and new migrants to help them with some of the costs of resettling family members. Loans of up to $2,500 are available for visa costs, air fares, accommodation related to reuniting families or permanent relocation, and other discretionary items.

‘These loans are a lifeline for many people and families in the South West,’ says Jayne Wooles of Community Connections’ Multicultural Development Unit, who administer the loans.

‘Often one family member will arrive first. Then they have to organise a home, learn English, get a job, learn Australian customs and lifestyle; and all they can really think about is getting their children and family safely to Australia,’ she said.

Some new migrants and refugees to Australia never manage a reunion and spend the rest of their lives isolated from their families and their home country. While most make happy homes in Australia, for those who lose their families, the grief can be overwhelming.

‘Being a new migrant or refugee can be extremely lonely, and the worry for loved ones left behind is very real. When Community Connections helps these people, we are asserting their human rights to safety and wellbeing,’ says Ms Wooles.

‘We are helping them to live the same life that the rest of us take for granted.’

Community Connections’ Multicultural Development Unit supports people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in a range of ways, including NILS. For more information, call Community Connections on 1300 361 680 or CLICK HERE to view our services.

Every August, Community Connections attends Hamilton's popular Sheepvention field days. Our attendence in 2011 was again a great success, with hundreds of people taking our information brochures and engaging with our staff. We also launched the second volume of The Little Lamb Cookbook, with all new recipes, ready for lamb-lovers to get cooking. You can get your FREE copy by emailing us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or calling 1300 361 680.

On both Sheepvention days, our staff invited children to paint on a large canvas, while their parents and other art connoisseurs bought raffle tickets to win the finished canvas. Both paintings were colourful extravaganza's and there were more than a few people who were disappointed not to have won.

See you at next year's Sheepvention.

The youth of today are the future of tomorrow

Here is your chance to make a lasting difference….

"Nothing is more rewarding than helping a young person get back on the right path," says Donna Willoughby, coordinator of a new youth mentoring initiative at Community Connections.

Currently seeking new mentors, the Warrnambool-based Alternative Education and Mentoring Program helps traumatised and at-risk young people to stay in education and make positive life choices.

Aimed at marginalised 13 to 17 year olds, the program needs new mentors to promote positive outcomes and to act as role models; to provide emotional support and positive feedback; and to become a steady, reliable, constructive presence in the lives of young people.

“Mentors can come from any walk of life,” said Ms Willoughby, “but all share the common thread of having a generous spirit and a passion for wanting to see young people grow and succeed. It is also an opportunity for ordinary people to invest in the future of some of the most vulnerable young people in our local community.”

During each mentoring journey, young people will spend just an hour or two per week with their mentor, but the commitment is long-term. “Potential mentors must be able to make a strong commitment to building an ongoing relationship with a young person,” Mrs Willoughby said.

Mentors will be provided with comprehensive ongoing training and support to gain the skills necessary to positively interact and respond to the particular needs and emotional wellbeing of the young person. “The mentors will learn how to provide effective personal guidance and direction to assist the young person in achieving their goals,” said Ms Willoughby

For potential mentors it is about taking a chance to be able to really connect with another person, and of knowing that you are really important in the life of another human being. It is taking a step outside of the square that they live in, and into the possibility of a new and unique friendship through the simple joy of sharing a laugh, a meal, footy, fishing, a drive, music, a coffee or just hanging out with each other.

Funded by the RM Ansett Trust, regular meetings with young people began in August 2011.

Acclaimed artist and children's author passes away

After 47 years of challenge and achievement, acclaimed artist and children’s book creator Debbie Austin died suddenly in May 2011 at her home in Geelong. Much loved by many, Debbie leaves behind five of her children, several grandchildren, many close friends and a legacy of artistic endeavour.

A member of the stolen generation, Debbie began her creative journey 15 years ago after returning to her ‘spiritual land’ and biological family in South West Victoria.

Tragically, Debbie’s mother had long passed, but fortunately Uncle Banjo Clarke’s charismatic story-telling inspired Debbie to find her own voice through art. She saw much of her art as a way to keep his and their community’s stories alive after he died.

Predominantly a dot painter but also a sculptor and muralist, Debbie went on to sell many paintings and artworks, and held several well-received exhibitions, including at the Port Fairy Whalebone Gallery and the Warrnambool Performing Arts Centre.

In recent years, Debbie turned her talents to creating colourful children’s books, consecutively addressing Aboriginal literacy and wellbeing in the process. Debbie wrote and illustrated the successful Indigenous First Discovery Books for Discovery Press (the publishing program of Community Connections), as well as the beautiful Old Tucker Man for One Day Hill publishing. A proud grandparent, Debbie was thrilled that her grandchildren were not only great readers, but became so by reading the books she wrote.

Self-taught, Debbie still had much more she wanted to say with her art. At the time of her death, she was working on another children’s book, based on a story by Uncle Banjo, and was planning a new exhibition which she hoped to tour. She had recently begun experimenting with charcoal and water colours, though with her untimely death, there are no completed works for her fans to access and enjoy.

A good-natured and compassionate woman, Debbie made friends easily, and generously welcomed a variety of people into her life. She was well-known for her cheeky and quick sense of humor, much enjoyed by all of her friends and family. Debbie was a popular local in both Warrnambool and her recently adopted Geelong, and will be deeply missed by everyone who knew her.

Debbie was buried at her spiritual land at Framlingham Forest. She believed that on her passing she would be reunited with her late loved ones, including her mother, Uncle Banjo and two of her children who are also buried at Framlingham. Knowing Debbie, that should be one heck of a reunion.

Staff, management and the Board of Community Connections and its publishing program Discovery Press feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with Debbie, and will miss her greatly. One of Debbie's beautiful paintings is on permanent display at the Community Connections reception area at 135 Kepler St, Warrnambool.