Call for refugee mentors

By Shaun Inguanzo
A NEW mentoring program in Greater Dandenong aims to keep young refugees in school and better integrate them into Australian society.
The program’s organiser is now calling for volunteer mentors.
The South East Migrant Resource Centre in Dandenong has started its Refugee and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Youth Mentoring Program with the intentions of stopping young refugees from leaving school early and slipping into a life on the streets.
Program manager Ed Gage said the mentoring would take place between a secondary school aged youth and a member of the broader community in Greater Dandenong or Casey.
“It is a program whereby we are trying to offer social and academic support and guidance,” Mr Gage said.
“It is like a friendship to the refugee and CALD people studying at secondary college.”
Anyone can volunteer to be a mentor as long as they are over the age of 21, Mr Gage said.
The Migrant Resource Centre will provide training and cover all costs, Mr Gage said, with mentors required to commit to a minimum of just one hour each week.
But if they like, mentors can contribute as many hours as they wish, Mr Gage said, to help reach social goals – not just academic ones – for young refugees and CALD students to achieve.
“The needs are different from individual to individual,” Mr Gage said.
“One goal for one person might be membership in a soccer club.
“For another, it might be support in a maths subject.”
To volunteer contact Ed Gage at the South East Migrant Resource Centre on 9706 8933.