SAIL Program Newsletter March 2005Page 1
Welcome and welcome back to the SAIL Program for 2005! There is already plenty going on and about to happen so please, read on, indulge, relax, grab a cuppa, and maybe a Tim Tam and descend into the comfortable world of SAILmania!
Updating contact details
SAILors tend to be movers and shakers. Shakers should keep the details to themselves. Movers need to let us know every detail so we can keep them in the loop. If your contact details have changed over summer, even a single digit of them, please let us know by emailing Marg, Admin Extraordinaire at .
Setting SAIL
A request. A plea. A beg. SAIL starts at 10:30am. This means we want you to be at SAIL with your student at 10:30am. In case you aren’t hearing us, here is a list of things we don’t want you to be doing at 10:30am; sleeping, driving to SAIL, cursing the traffic or mowing the lawn while wondering if you are supposed to be somewhere.
Please ensure you allow time to get to SAIL and to start by 10:30am. If you want to start earlier, that’s fine! We are happy to make the facilities available. Please, for 2005, give us an early Chrissie present and come early each and every week.
SAIL Star
The SAIL Star is back for 2005! The SAIL Star is written by Sudanese SAILors for all SAILors. This year, for the first time, the SAIL Star has its own editor, Lauren, editor in chief! The SAIL Star will be coming out every five weeks but for this to happen, we need your help!
The SAIL Star relies on contributions from the Sudanese SAILors. It features stories, pictures and completed SAIL Star worksheets. These worksheets are especially designed for the SAIL Star as they convert readily from worksheet into article. Please find them on the Tutor Resources section of the website.
The purpose of the SAIL Star is two-fold. Firstly, it offers reward and recognition for good work. Secondly, it provides some simple reading and activity material for all SAILors on Saturdays.
After its immense success in its first year, 2003, we call on all SAILors to keep the SAIL Star in mind and to submit pieces for publication to the big SAIL Star submission box in the library! Your help will be appreciated to make the SAIL stars shine in the SAIL Star!
Week 5 dates 2005
The week 5 dates for 2005 are set. The first Tutor Talk session will be on 9 April at the usual time of 12:30pm. Please mark it in your diary as we have a strong line up of guest speakers to grill with SAIL questions.
The Week 5 dates for the rest of the year and the topics for each session are in a table at the end of this newsletter. We encourage all SAILors to attend as many as possible. They are the ideal way for us to help you help your student/s!
VCE Centre
SAIL Xtend 2005
SAIL Xtend, the activities which happen after lunch, kick off with bang on 12 March and will continue throughout 2005. Under the steady steerage of Caitlin (not to be confused with Cait), SAIL Xtend will be involving many SAILors of primary and secondary school ages. SAIL Xtend kicks off this Saturday (March 12) at 12:30 with a fantastic program that includes cooking, mural painting, creative writing and jewellery making.
It will involve around fifty SAIL students ranging from eight-year-olds to teenagers. Drivers, please do not take your students home without first checking with Caitlin, Cait or Will to see if they are participating in Xtend.
We are also seeking tutors who are interested in helping to run Xtend activities. If you can hang around until 1:30pm on any Saturday, your presence will be invaluable. (Plus you’ll get to do some fun activities!) If you are interested in getting involved please let email: .
SAIL SOCIAL 2005!!!
Announcing the inaugural SAIL Social for 2005!
When:Friday March 18 from 7pm
Where:The Retreat Hotel
Corner of Sydney Rd and Glenlyon Rd, Brunswick
Come on down and meet your fellow tutors outside of the Saturday morning madness!!!
Esso Day of Caring
On March 9, as has occurred for three years, the staff of Exxon Mobil will attend SAIL to give it the Backyard Blitz-like makeover!
Saturday Co-ordinators
It is with open arms that we welcome two people back for 2005 in their role as Saturday Co-ordinators. Andrew and Caitlin (also doing Xtend) have the sole responsibility of being new reference points for questions, queries, quibbles and concerns from all SAILors on a Saturday. Please make use of them as a reference point, especially if there is something they can assist with.
WholeSAIL news
Excursion options
SAIL About is shaping up to big things already for 2005. Below are a list of events free for SAILors. If you are interested in taking your SAIL buddies to any event, please email us to reserve a place. Please note that all SAIL About excursion travel costs are paid by SAIL and more than one SAIL volunteer must attend each event.
1.Ballet at the Bowl, Friday 11 March 2005, 8pm @ Myer Music Bowl
Ever wanted to be a ballerina? That’s nice. What about watch one? Well you can! This Friday there is a free ballet bonanza at the Myer Music Bowl. If you are wanting to take some SAILors, please let us know ASAP so the necessary paperwork can be completed.
- AFL's Harmony Day Wizard Cup, 12 March 2005 @ Telstra Dome.
For kids aged 8-9 and any SAILor supervisors, we have an offer for free tickets to the football this Saturday! The game will be played at Tesltra Dome and during half time the SAILors will be taken onto the ground for half time activities. If you are interested in taking part, please let us know and then contact Trevor Robertson at Football Victoria, 8663 3015, 0418 321 967, . This is a great opportunity for kids to experience the atmosphere of footy in Melbourne.
- Black Harmony Gathering, 20 March 2005 2pm - 6pm @ The Fairfield Amphitheatre, Heidelberg Rd Fairfield.
Multicultural Arts Victoria present a showcase of Australian Indigenous musicians alongside their brothers and sisters from newly arrived African communities of Congo, West Africa, North and South Sudan. Performers include our very own Dambai dancers alongside Koori Youth Will Shake Spears, Monica Weightman, Nadia Elbana, Sudan Azza, Ajak Kwai and Koori Band. If you intend to join the SAIL group, please let us know by email to . For more details about the day please visit
4.Variety Functions
The Variety Children’s Charity have kindly made their excursions open to all SAILors for 2005. The following events are coming up and require bookings. If you would like to take a SAILor, please let us know so we can reserve a place.
How about sailing the old way? SAILors can sail away on Wednesday, 23 March 2005 with the Sandringham Yacht Club.
Circus Oz are hosting a show free for SAILors on 24 June 2005 at Birrarung Marr. If you are able to collect a carload of youngsters, we will gladly reserve you a ticket.
Eagles fly and so do bulldogs. SAILors can head to the footy to see the Weagles and the Western Bulldogs on 6 August 2005. If you would like to join the mottly crew for this one, let us know.
- Ajak Kwai, Saturday, 23 April, 2005 from 8.15 pm @ Boite World Music Cafe, 1 Mark Street, North Fitzroy
Ajak Kwai from the Dinka people of Southern Sudan is currently on a national Australian tour. Her singing shares songs of freedom, peace, love, marriage and cows (the source of Dinka life!) that will “, according to the promo materials, “uplift and inspire”.
Altona
It is with a great pleasure that we announce the pending launch of SAIL’s third home, Altona! Under the steady guidance of SAIL Footscray tutors, Wayn Wong and Catherine Foreman, Altona will be kicking off on 28 May 2005. In time, it is hoped that Altona SAIL will take some of the pressure on space from Footscray. If any present SAILor is interested in joining the pioneering group, please let Wayn and Catherine know on .
Arabic
Want to learn Juba Arabic, the Arabic spoken in Sudan? A small group of SAILors are organising and mid-week beginners Arabic class for SAILors only. The classes will run every week for 6 months at the University of Melbourne Law School on Thursdays after work hours. Each class will cost $10 with the money going solely to the Sudanese tutor. If you are interested, please email Matthew at .
Sudan Mirror
The Sudan Mirror is the only independent source of news produced in Sudan. Access to it in Australia provides a vital link for the Diaspora members at SAIL with the folks back home. SAIL’s affiliate, the Sudanese Online Research Association, is now glad to welcome the Sudan Mirror to Australia.
The Sudan Mirror will be available from SAIL campuses each fortnight. Purchase is by subscription only. For collection at SAIL, the grand cost for six months is $18! Please find the order form attached.
Globalising SAIL
Following Matthew’s sabbatical to Kenya and Sudan in 2004, SAIL is now linked in with an international network of organisations working for a peaceful future for Sudan.
Among them is the link with the New York-based organisation, FilmAid International. FilmAid operates in refugee camps across the world providing mental relief through the medium of film from the banal lifestyle of the camps.
Among its projects, FilmAid is co-ordinating a global exchange of video letters – pen pals for the 21st Century! During 2005, a group of SAILors will be exchanging video-taped messages with Sudanese refugee children at the Kakuma refugee camp in the north Kenyan desert. We will keep you posted as it develops and let you know when the latest delivery of a message comes through.
The SAIL Star is also now partnered with the Peace Education Program of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR. In all editions of the SAIL Star for 2005, you will see submissions on the subject of peace in Sudan from refugees across East African who participates in the Peace Education Program. By the same token, writing on peace by SAILors will be regularly featured in the UN’s publication, Peacemaker magazine.
It is hoped that these links will bring home to Sudanese SAILors that they are part of a global community committed to the idea of sustainable peace in Africa’s largest nation.
Matthew’s movements
For the record and for those confused (or distraught) that Matthew is sometimes there and sometimes not, Matthew will be the overseeing co-ordinator for wholeSAIL operations for 2005. This means he will be at Footscray every week 2 and 5 and Dandenong for the other weeks. From June, Matthew will have one week per cycle at Altona and two at the other two campuses. For those missing him desperately in the meantime, there are two options; email him at or seek counselling.
Total Trivia
Want to study SAIL? You now can! In fact, students of the University of Melbourne who undertake the Liberal Arts course called “Migrant Nations” have no choice. The week 4 tutorial (21 March) is exclusively about the SAIL Program an comes complete with a mandatory reading list! An essay critically analysing the SAIL Program is an option for all students in the course. We were thinking of enrolling until we considered the prospect of failing in the subject which would be a bit too embarrassing?!?!
Thank you all for your generosity of time, energy and spirit. It was the life-blood of SAIL ’04 and will be the life-blood of SAIL ’05!
Matthew, Will and Cait
in association with
The Sudan Mirror, Sudan’s only independent source of news, is now available in Australia.
The Sudanese Online Research Association (SORA) is proud to announce the arrival of the Sudan Mirror to Australia. The Sudan Mirror is a newspaper written by Sudanese people about Sudanese issues for Sudan’s future. Australia now joins Sudan, Kenya and Uganda on the short list of countries that have access to uncensored news coverage of Sudan’s struggles and successes.
When?Every fortnight
Where? By post to your door; or
at the SAIL Program campuses
(May Street, Footscray, Langhorne Street, Dandenong, Bent Street, Altona)
How much? 6 month subscription
(post $30, collection at SAIL campuses $18)
12 month subscription
(post $60, collection at SAIL campuses $35)
Send this form with cash or cheque:
Sudanese Online Research Association,
56 Wattle Road, Hawthorn, 3122,
Victoria, Australia
Where does the money go?
SORA, the Australian distributor of the Sudan Mirror, is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization. The cover price of the Sudan Mirror is 65c*. Per copy postage from East Africa is 80c*. Postage within Australia is $1. No profits are made from the sale of the Sudan Mirror and all money for the production and postage of the paper is sent back to the Sudan Mirror in Kenya and Sudan. For more information, visit
NAME: Subscription: [ ] 6 month [ ] 12 month
Collection[ ] by post [ ] SAIL Dandenong [ ]SAIL Footscray [ ] SAIL Altona
POSTAL ADDRESS:
Please make cheques payable to the “SAIL Program” with whom SORA shares a bank account.
SAIL Program Newsletter March 2005Page 1
Community Talk / Tutor Talk - Junior / Tutor Talk - SAIL / Tutor Talk – Senior9 April – F
16 April – D / Running a family / Junior Meeting / Managing behaviour / CELL Session
14 May – F
21 May – D / Family law, child protection and road rules / Free Kindergarten Association (FKA) / Learning problems & reading issues / Cross cultural training & challenges on arrival incl. re education system differences
Anna Grace Hopkins & Matthew Albert
18 June – F
25 June – D
WORLD REFUGEE DAY / Diet and dental hygiene
Dental hygienist / Refugee Experience – The Sudanese story incl. Current news / Refugee Experience – The Sudanese story incl. Current news / Refugee Experience – The Sudanese story incl. Current news
23 July – F
30 July – D / Job hunting tips and apprenticeships / Behaviour and discipline / Bullying / Starting ABC – bare basics of ESL teaching
27 August – F
3 September – D / SAIL / Turns / Four / !!!
1 October – F
8 October – D / Finance management / Sudanese parenting explained / Overcoming trauma / Overcoming trauma
5 November – F
12 November – D / Accessing services / Art and craft / Activities for learning / AMES role - the resettlement English learning story
10 December – F
17 December - D / SPECIAL / BONANZA! / TBA / !!!!