Published: 3 March 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Project Eden, a refugee resettlement program launched by Stand Up, with government backing, enables people to help refugees start new lives in Australia. SHARON BERGER reports.
An information night about a new program that enables members of the community to help UNHCR-referred refugees resettle in Australia was held in Sydney on Wednesday night.
The gathering for Project Eden, launched by Jewish advocacy group Stand Up, brought together refugees who had benefited from the program, support members who have helped resettle families, a representative from Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) and individuals interested in hearing more about this life-changing opportunity.
The Jewish Independent is supporting Project Eden, which is a community project to help people engage in a federal government program known as CRISP (the Community Refugee Integration & Settlement Pilot), a four-year pilot program launched in mid-2022 and will help resettle 1500 refugees.
If successful, CRISP is expected to be adopted on a wider scale for humanitarian resettlement. Australia’s annual humanitarian intake is 13,750, a small fraction of the tens of millions of refugees worldwide.
This community support model has been very successful in Canada since the late 1970s and has enabled over 325,000 refugees to build new lives there. It is now being adopted in many countries, including Australia.
In 2021, The Jewish Independent Media, Stand Up and B’nai Brith combined to raise $106,500 to help resettle in Canada 10 refugees stranded in Nauru and PNG.
“What makes the CRISP model so impactful is that it gives our volunteers the chance to make a real, tangible difference, whilst also giving new arrivals instant community support in the hopes of relieving isolation,” said Stand Up CEO Courtney Winter-Peters, who introduced the program to the group.
Stand Up has established Project Eden to support members of the Jewish community interested in assisting refugees. For many years they have been working with the Sudanese and South Sudanese communities in Melbourne.
“At Stand Up, we are inspired and motivated by our own Jewish memories of being strangers in a strange land," she added. “It drives us to think of ways we can make the experience of refugees today even that little bit easier.”
While participants in the program spoke of some of the day-to-day difficulties in assisting the resettlement process, particularly the challenge of finding affordable housing, they also emphasised the many benefits of helping others, many of whom have been waiting years for visas.
Volunteer Emma Freedman said: “We didn’t really know what we were getting into, but it has been an amazing experience”.
Another volunteer, Joel Moss, added: “It is very, very satisfying to help people. My wife’s family were refugees during the Holocaust and we heard those stories over and over again about how they were refused entry from country after country after country.”
Moss said he and his family have greatly benefited from being involved recently in helping resettle an Afghani family.
Nicole Watkins, the community development manager from CRSA, outlined the expectations of the 12-month program, which include tapping into the community support groups networks and basic logistical support like picking them up from the airport, procuring short-term accommodation, assisting them to connect with government support services, helping enrol kids in school and finding healthcare providers for individuals or families. She said it was an opportunity for ordinary people to come together as a group and make a difference.
Winter-Peters added: “Project Eden is about forming relationships, creating bonds and making change. This is our chance to demonstrate the strength of the Jewish community to welcome newcomers. We anticipate this project will be life changing for all involved.”
For those interested in Project Eden in Melbourne or Sydney, CLICK HERE
Photo: Stand Up CEO Courtney Winter-Peters speaking to the group
All photos: Sharon Berger
