By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Community conversation is where the gold is.
So said Victorian Multicultural Commission chairwoman Helen Kapalos in her precede to a community forum on cultural harmony at Oakgrove Community Centre on 20 October.
There was much gold unearthed among 100 Casey residents at the event organised by Narre Warren South MP Judith Couacaud Graley.
One told of how she was put at ease after feeling “confronted” by the sight of women in burqas at a recent talk in Dandenong.
As probably the only Jewish woman at the talk, she told a Muslim woman of her unease.
“She put her hand out and drew a woman wearing a burqa over to where we were standing.
“We started talking politely. She was so warm, so friendly. She had sparkling eyes.
“So I was helped to break a problem … something that will help me for the rest of my life.”
Her summation was that we don’t put ourselves “out there” enough to meet people who “don’t fit our mould”.
Another man asked how migrants could deal with being discriminated by skin colour. Another asked how his family could mix better in the community.
“This is our country now. It’s time for us to come out and look after this country’s future.”
A staff member at a Narre Warren primary school called for schools to become a hub for cross-cultural contact.
She described seeing children of all backgrounds playing together at lunchtimes.
Her suggestion was for world music nights at schools as a way to bring people together.
A man said there were widespread mental health strains among Victoria’s 11,000 asylum seekers on bridging visas.
He gave the example of an asylum seeker burnt himself alive in a Dandenong park last year.
Multicultural Affairs Minister Robin Scott said support services were traditionally a federal responsibility but the State Government had committed $18 million over four years to plug that “gap”.
The state had also allocated funding for post-secondary skills and training for disadvantaged multicultural communities.
As a former broadcaster at five TV stations, Ms Kapalos said she was often a “frustrated spectator” to “unfair depictions” presented in news bulletins.
She presented a moving video in which participants from all backgrounds took a “DNA journey”.
The people’s assumptions about the “purity” of their backgrounds were debunked by their multinational DNA histories.
“This test should be compulsory,” a participant said.
“Who then would be stupid enough to think they’re of a pure race?”
