Around 60 New Arrival Kids attended an activity day at Clonard College on April 12, during the school holidays.

The day was filled with fun and many various activities that kept all the participants from ages 5 to 16 involved and active. From skipping rope to blowing bubbles to dance and percussion classes they all had a ball. They had face painting, various sports, play doh and even biscuit decorating but the fun part was in the eating. Not to mention the BBQ that had sooooo much food, fruit and drinks we could some say they could have stayed into the night. The 3 schools involved were Clonard College, St. Josephs College and Sacred Heart College.

A warm thank you to all the teachers, students and parents who gave up their day to welcome and prepare a whole day of wonderful experiences for our New Arrivals.

On the 4^th April 2012 the Diversitat Community Development team took two busses of Karen and Karenni children as well as their families to the Melbourne Zoo.

The kids particularly enjoyed seeing the lions, baby elephants and the Kangaroos. What a great day out!

Barwon Community Legal Service invites service providers and community workers to a FREE information session. This is an opportunity for new and existing workers to explore legal issues that affect your clients and members of our community. Thursday 17 May 2012, 10.45am to 3.30pm at Centenary Hall, 1-15 Cox Road, Norlane.

Click here for more information

For the first time in Australia the Karenni community have planted or posted in the earth their Kay Toe Boe, which in appearance is like a totem pole. This is the 1^st of its kind in this part of the hemisphere.

In the words of the Karenni this posting gives respect and praise to Phu Kaboekathi (Owner of water, forest, earth and universe) giving memory to their motherland and past present and future generations. The ceremony prays for good rain, weather for cultivation, health and peace. The Karenni leaders spoke of the importance of reconciliation for the health of the earth and our community and it is very appropriate when we consider the important democratic changes currently underway in Burma.

Lisa Ashdowne won the Impetus Award under the Volunteer Category. Lisa is heavily involved with Corio Little Athletics Centre. The VicHealth S4U2 – Sports For You Too project is supporting Lisa and Athletics and congratulate her for all her work with the New Arrivals.

Hopefully we can achieve some amazing results in athletics with our New Arrival participants with the help of the S4U2 project!

Congratulations to Lisa for this great accomplishment!

The Afghan community celebrated their Eid festival on Saturday the 31st of March to Sunday the 1st of April at Diversitat’s Northern Community Hub in Norlane.

The event was attended by 100’s of people from many different areas including the Afghan community representatives from Dandenong.

It was a great opportunity for the newly elected president of the Afghan association to address his community members with the event enabling the Afghanis living in Geelong to come together and share their traditional yummy Afghan meals.

The event eventually culminated with some, traditional dances and with the "Dambora" music.