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Rachael* lands work experience opportunity to lead into employment

Rachael has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair for mobility. Rachael completed her participation in Backswing, a program that is designed to help people living with a disability increase their work readiness and employability skills.

Rachel has always wanted to have independence, wanting economic participation. However, with no prior work experience and feeling like her chair was a barrier to employment and being very shy, she found the process a huge challenge.

As a first step, SydWest staff worked with Rachael to help build up her confidence and provided her with the tools she needed to seek work experience. Rachael emailed disability organisations for work experience and after many knock backs, she was offered work experience with Diversity and Disability Alliance. 

This is a big achievement for Rachael, who at 32 felt like her life was not going to ever be different or change for the better. Through SydWest, Rachael was connected with a peer support buddy, who also has cerebal palsy and works at Diversity and Disability Alliance.

Rachael was so pleased with the support she received during and after her participation in Backswing, she has signed up with SydWest Disability services for support coordination, to assist her with her NDIS plan. SydWest will also continue supporting Rachael to explore independent living options and help her achieve her goals.

Find out more about the Backswing program here and SydWest’s other disability services here.

*Names have been changed to maintain client confidentiality.

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Building Confidence: Yaser's story

When 16-year-old Yaser arrived in Australia last year, he spoke little English and hadn’t been to school in over three years. His family had fled Iraq over three years ago, living in Jordan as refugees where there was little time for school. 

Yaser now attends the Intensive English Centre at Evans High School in Blacktown and admits that while he is very happy to be going to school again, it is difficult in a new country with a new language. In order to get a little extra help with his schooling, Yaser rides his bike to the SydWest office in Blacktown every Thursday afternoon where he joins more than 20 other children at our Homework Support sessions.

Yaser recalls the first time he asked his youth Caseworker for help with his school work. “I remember that day when I came to Mervat telling her that I am a donkey. I was very disappointed because I could not understand any of my school subjects especially Math and I was worried about my Maths exam. Mervat encouraged me and explained the subject in very simple way. She speaks my language and makes things easier for me. I got good confidence in myself that I will do good in my exams and I did. I got 75%,” Yaser said. 

“SydWest gives me the confidence in myself and this is the perfect place to improve myself and my English language. Now I have many friends from different cultures from my school and from SydWest. I am very happy to get good marks in Maths and receive a certificate too,” he said.

Yaser is one of 60 students who attend SydWest’s homework support sessions held once a week across Blacktown, St Mary’s and Mt Druitt – supported by our Youth workers and dedicated volunteer tutors.

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A client’s story of NDIS

Our Community Connection Coordinator (CCC) met John (not his real name) and his brother after receiving a referral from Fairfield Hospital.

Upon visiting the brothers at their home in South West Sydney, our staff discovered that the brothers were not receiving any supports and were not managing at all to live on their own. Their only sister lives far away and did not understand how NDIS could help her brothers.

SydWest immediately began providing information about NDIS to John’s social worker and sister and explaining how NDIS could assist John to live independently and with ongoing supports from allied health professions in the home. Our CCC worked to build capacity in the social worker and sister to understand the documents required to access NDIS, as well as information regarding the Companion Card and the Taxi Voucher scheme.

John was success with accessing NDIS and our CCC continued to support John and hi sister with planning meeting preparation and the planning meeting process. Following John’s implementation meeting with the LAC, they sought SydWest assistance again as they did not understand the plan and how NDIS and choice and control works and how John can always choose what and how he wants to achieve his goals through the various funding options.

The sister now understands the whole plan very well and ISs comfortable in advocating for her brother. She was happy and relieved that her brother will be looked after by NDIS supports now. Due to CCC’s rapport with the family and the trust built up, the sister requested to stay with SydWest and receive further supports through SydWest’s NDIS Care Worker team.

Today, John receives Core Supports and Support Coordination services from SydWest and will be supported with his ongoing plan management processes into the future.

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A Successful Upskilling of Disability Employment Services (DES) Participants in Retail

Job Seekers Pumalay Mudliar, Anmol Singh, Christopher Prinze, and Michael Noble all graduated with a Certificate III in Retail in March 2020 just before the COVID-19 social distancing and lockdowns came into place.

The Certificate III in Retail is delivered in partnership with ACACIA Education & Training and is a free course for DES participants, driven by the need to upskill our Jobseekers and help them find sustainable employment in the retail sector.

Job Seeker Pumalay Mudliar was motivated by, and enjoyed the course, receiving an excellent recommendation from the assessor, which can help him secure employment in the future. Pumalay came from Fiji in 2000 with his family. He was a teacher for more than 22 years, both here and in Fiji but had to retire from the profession due to health reasons. As such, he continues to challenge himself with new opportunities such as the DES Retail Training. As an ex-teacher, he was also a great support to his fellow student classmates during the course and together they put in a lot of work to complete the short course.

“This group has done exceptionally well and have thrown themselves into the study regime and the results show that they were diligent students” said Nicollette East, Trainer at ACACIA Education & Training.

For SydWest, this was an opportunity to guide our DES participants in their study and provide a safe place (both physically and mentally) for them to come each week and participate in the program.

The short course has proven successful with the Jobseekers and a great partnership opportunity for SydWest with ACACIA Education & Training and we are proud to continue working with the college to support our clients in the future.

The Retail industry has been extremely hard-hit by COVID-19 and despite available supports from the Government to rebuild the economy of the country, our DES Jobseekers are still actively looking for work.

If you want to know more about our DES program or discuss job opportunities for our DES clients, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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SydWest Thanks Our Volunteers

21 May 2020

SydWest Multicultural Services wishes to acknowledge and thank all of our dedicated and hardworking volunteers. Together we make a difference in the lives of the clients we serve.

This week is #national volunteer week. #volunteering is a great way to connect with your local community!

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Aged Care Clients Share their Story: Raj & Satya Singh

While ‘Bowl N Dance’ was a roaring success, social engagement for seniors must be encouraged throughout the year. SydWest operates culture and language-specific social support groups for seniors that help break social isolation through regular social outings, information sessions and group sharing.

Raj and Satya Singh are regular members of the Blacktown Indian-Fijian Seniors’ Social Group, as well as recipients of our Home Care Package, which supports seniors to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible.

“My husband and I joined the Seniors’ Social Support group 2 years ago because we wanted to socialise with people outside our immediate family. The Indian-Fijian Senior’s Social Group gives us the opportunity to meet a wider group of people, who we could still communicate with easily.

“We have an excursion or event nearly every month to look forward to, but with nearly 25 people in our social group we have made lots of friends who we like to spend time with outside the group as well. 

“Another thing that has helped us are the information sessions. These have helped us understand what kind of support we have access to, in our own language.

“Through the social group, we learned we were eligible for the Home Care Package, which provides some assistance to us in our own homes, so we can stay independent and avoid a nursing home. 

“Vithya, our group coordinator, has done an excellent job making sure we always have information when we need it or a fun event to look forward to. It’s really helpful to have someone be able to communicate with you in your language.”

Raj & Satya Singh

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Client Success: Sarah's Cupcaake Creations

Sarah Osei has a passion for creating and baking. After finishing a baking course in late 2016, she turned her passion into a small business – Sarah’s Cupcaake Creations – a Women Taking Care of Business success story.

Sarah joined one of the SydWest Women Taking Care of Business programs, which aims to develop the small business skills required of an entrepreneur such as Sarah. The training covered business planning, marketing, financials/budgeting, market-testing and much more. All of our participants learned vital skills to help them succeed in business.

Initially focusing on just cupcakes, little did Sarah know that, with time, encouragement from her family and enhancing her business skills with the Women Taking Care of Business program, the business would blossom into a focus on custom baked goods. Sarah now specialises in wide range of custom cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Supporting her small business, SydWest Multicultural Services has enjoyed Sarah’s Cupcaake Creations on several occasions, including the cookies provided at the recent International Women’s Day event in Blacktown.

When Sarah is not in the kitchen whipping up something yummy to decorate, she loves to spend her time travelling, using this as a way to see how bakers around the world come up with their own creations. For Sarah, the knowledge and networks established through SydWest’s Women Taking Care of Business program have been invaluable to her business directions and growth, particularly focusing on custom work.

SydWest Multicultural Services is proud to be supporting emerging small businesses by women, often refugees to Australia, who are courageous enough to become a self-employed small business entrepreneur. To see more of Sarah’s creations, visit https://www.facebook.com/sarahscupcaakecreation/

For more information on our Women & Families programs, contact SydWest on Tel: (02) 9621 6633 or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Accelerator Success – Shaliny's Story

Shaliny is a great example of the power of the Blacktown Employment Accelerator to successfully accelerate the employment process for both employers and job-seekers.

Ann Shaliny Johnson came from Sri Lanka in March 2016. She obtained her diploma in Community Development and Management from Sri Lanka, with strong administration and office support background. She was looking for a job without success until referred to Sydwest to seek advice to find a proper job. She received professional advise on developing her resume, and attended a few workshops regarding employment processes in Australia and the work culture and environment in Australia.

She was invited to attend the Blacktown Employment Accelerator held by SydWest to improve her chance on securing a position in Australian workforce. As a result of meeting Reach for Training through the speed-dating approach, she handed them her resume.

After the event, SydWest was advised by Reach that they had several positions available and Shaliny was referred for one of the position. Within 1 month, Shaliny had been called in for an interview and was successful. She started her job in January 2018 as a receptionist and has since moved into Training Coordinator.

Shaliny acknowledges that her English language skills were limited when she started but the job has significantly helped her improve her spoken skills (written was already ok). Shaliny is particularly grateful to Haleh, her employment officer, for helping and encouraging her – she was hesitant because of the lack of local job references and experience. Shaliny has also started studying as part of her job in Cert 3 Business administration as a traineeship

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Client Success Story: Ed Yousef

Ed Yousef is a young man who arrived from Syria in June 2013 seeking a safe place to live, away from war and destruction and looking to start a new life with better opportunities.

Ed is 3rd year at UNSW studying medicine and majoring in pathology. He was first a client of SydWest, then a volunteer and now a tutor with our youth homework study centre program for young people from refugee and other migrant backgrounds.

I still remember the day when I first visited SydWest as a fresh client. I met with my caseworker and after he greeted me, he introduced me to SydWest and the programs that were running at that time.

Three days after his first meeting, it was the first Syrian Welcome Picnic, held in Alpha Park, Blacktown.

My family and I went with SydWest to one of the parks and had a wonderful barbeque under the rain. Then we shared our life stories with each other, and we discussed the obstacles and hardships we had to go through on the way to Australia.

During the first couple of weeks after my arrival, SydWest provided us with the great support to start our life in Australia and make new connections. I remember the day I went back to SydWest to participate in the volunteering program and contacted clients who share the same mother tongue as me. It was such a wonderful moment helping others and givng them a hand to solve their problems.

In early 2017, I joined the homework support program at SydWest and worked with an amazing team to assist students with their homework. My role as tutor is to help students with their homework, teach them techniques to solve their mathematical problems and simplify concepts for them as much as I can. I am very proud of being tutor at the homework support centre at SydWest because it gives the opportunity to pay back to my community as well as SydWest and its great people. 

At the moment, I work at four different jobs (Woolworths, Kmart, HireUp) as well as SydWest. I am also finishing my Bachelor of Medical Science degree. I am looking forward to continuing to work with SydWest and participate more in helping the community.

Ed Yousef also spoke at the SydWest 2018 AGM in Rouse Hill, sharing his story to inspire others to reach high and achieve their dreams.

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SydWest Multicultural Services visits TAFE NSW AMEP Mt Druitt

SydWest’s community engagement activities continued with a special presentation to the Mt Druitt TAFE students. The Settlement Services team visited classes for students from Arab-speaking countries (including Syria and Iraq), Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Eritrea and DR Congo to provide information on our services and how we can support them as they settle into Australia.

Thanks to some of our staff, bilingual sessions were possible, which the students appreciated, as they found it extremely useful, well-organised and unaware of the range of services available to them from SydWest.
After attending several classes, our staff then met with the students during their break and start to build a working relationship. Following the visit to TAFE Mt Druitt, SydWest Mt Druitt has been flooded with contact from new clients at the Mt Druitt office.

If you or anyone you know, needs help with their settlement in the local area, please contact us today.