By CHAD VAN ESTROP
FINDING suitable help and knowing when to ask for it is sometimes difficult for new migrants.
But last week the tentativeness associated with settling into a new community was alleviated for some at the Pathways to Better Living expo.
Doveton resident and single mother Christine Angua was among 500 migrants and refugees who attended the Dandenong expo, which brought together more than 70 services including counsellors, foster carers and job agents.
Ms Angua, who migrated from Uganda in 2007, said the information she received at the expo would allow her to better support her young family.
“I just want to find a job and be able to provide for my children,” she said.
Ms Angua, who lived in a Ugandan refugee camp for nine years, said it was difficult to support her school-aged daughters and help with their homework. “It is very hard for me to help my children by myself.”
At the expo Ms Angua was put in touch with the Learning Beyond the Bell program offered by the Centre for Multicultural Youth.
The program recruits tutors to run homework clubs at south-eastern schools providing assistance to refugee and migrant students.
Ms Angua said the program would allow her daughters to get help she was unable to provide.
Ms Angua was also put in touch with Good Money, which provides no-interest loans.
Ms Angua plans to use a loan from Good Money to buy school books and uniforms for her daughters.
“Sometimes it is hard to know what services are available. To know there are services that can help my family is a big relief.”
Windermere Child and Family Services business manager Serap Ozdemir said the expo was about “making sure that we can get people to access the services they are entitled to.”
