By Jamie Salter
The staff at Cranbourne West Primary School are helping to support the Afghan community to feel welcome in the community.
Many Hazara families were experiencing significant stress from isolation during the most recent coronavirus lockdown.
In August, Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul was taken over by Taliban forces.
Local families were traumatised by the shocking event and deeply concerned for their family and friends overseas.
Cranbourne West Primary School multicultural education support worker Lida Hazara recognised their troubles and took action to provide these families with extra support during the difficult period.
She spoke with the school’s principal Andrew Bergmeier about the welfare of the children and families from Afghanistan, inviting staff to attend a Zoom meeting with herself and about 30 parents.
From this meeting, Mr Bergmeier contacted the Department of Education and requested affected students be allowed to attend school for on-site supervision, to provide them support during a critical time.
The school received approval to have students attend campus throughout the last two weeks of Term 3.
Ms Hazara said knowing staff cared enough to advocate for their needs made a big difference.
“It made a huge change, even I was in a bad condition at the time,“ she said.
“A lot of ladies shared their stories and tears and we never thought something was going to happen.
“But we couldn’t look after ourselves, how could we look after our children?
“When they came back to school, the children didn’t just learn, they went to see each other and play.”
Mr Bergmeier said the Zoom call enlightened staff to the persecutions of Hazara people.
”Our meeting just about reduced us to tears, many families were experiencing a sense of helplessness,“ he said.
“The Education Department responded in a really positive way to the needs of these people – which we can’t fully understand.
“People don’t realise the restorative effects a school can have on our children.”
Ms Hazara has spent the past four years at the school working to create a sense of community.
Now, she is moving on to a new role at the Australian Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
“It’s my goal to work for the larger community,“ she said.
“Since I came here, I’ve changed a lot and found myself.
“I’ve tried to connect two cultures together, if we help them, it means we help our country.“
Parent and community liaison Debbie Dodd said Ms Hazara created a community feel that hadn’t been there before her arrival.
“She will be missed at Cranbourne West Primary School but in the same way that Mr Bergmeier has supported her development, she has also supported ours and we know that we will be able to continue her good work into the future,” Ms Dodd said.
