A group of 60 former refugees from Melbourne will be hosted by the Corowa community over three days in 2019.
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This event from March 9-11 is seeking to replicate a successful weekend in March last year, when Corowa opened its heart and homes to 50 visiting former refugees.
The engagement of the Corowa community last year during this event was truly amazing and extremely positive for those involved.
Like last year, this year’s event is a community event and anyone within the Corowa area is welcome to be involved.
Planned activities over the weekend for this year’s event in Corowa include shared lunches and dinners with the Corowa community and refugees at the Memorial Hall, bike ride around Whitehead Wetland, river walk to Rowers Park, visiting a working farm and a tour of Corowa Museum.
On the Sunday, everyone will be entertained by a group of Congolese singers from Wodonga over lunch and the Sunday dinner will include meals prepared by the refugees to enable a sharing of their culture.
If you would like to be involved in this year’s event, ring Maris on 0409 188 542 and she will point you in the right direction.
The weekend is being organised by the ‘Who Is My Neighbour – Corowa Refugee Network’, a community group which aims to assist and support former refugees by providing opportunities for them to engage with the local Corowa community.
Additionally, it aims to broaden the community’s understanding of the experiences and hardships of refugees and of their humanity. Based on the high spirits and lasting friendships that formed between Corowa locals and the visitors during last year’s visit, these aims are easily met by organising such weekends.
The success of last year’s visit in welcoming former refugees and empowering Corowa locals to open their hearts and homes to strangers resulting in new friendships was recognised in the Federation Council Australia Day awards this year.
The ‘Who Is My Neighbour’ project was awarded the community project of the year and the success of this project was truly a community effort.
The project had the involvement of all Corowa churches (Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Uniting and Presbyterian), the Corowa Community Garden, Corowa Guides, Corowa Lions Club and Corowa and District Landcare.
Corowa businesses were also extremely generous in their support which included some large donations of goods and services by Cann’s Bus Lines, Corowa Bakery, Corowa IGA and Woolworths.
However, the key group responsible for the success of the weekend which needs to be acknowledged are the people of Corowa.
Last year’s event was such a success because many Corowa locals donated their time, money and cooking skills to this wonderful event.
‘Who Is My Neighbour – Corowa Refugee Network’ may have accepted this award on Australia Day, however the group acknowledges that the true winners of this award was the Corowa community, thanking them for their efforts last year and in advance for their involvement in the upcoming visit in the March weekend this year.
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