Refugee centre risks closure

By Laura Cathery

The Asylum Seekers centre in Surry Hills is under threat of closing or severely limiting their services because of lack of donations.

With Refugee Week around the corner, aimed at informing the public about refugees and their contributions to Australia from June 20-26, the Surry Hills centre hopes donations will be made to keep them open.

The centre is struggling to raise $30,000 a month, which is the bare minimum cost to keep it open.

Centre Director Prabha Gulati blamed the global financial crisis for the drop in level of donations, which has led to the centre having to reduce their social workers by half.

“I think it’s extremely important to keep this centre open as it’s the only one of its kind in NSW,” she said.

“There is no one else that could provide the breadth of services we provide our clients.”

The centre provides refugees who have no immediate access to Medicare with a range of holistic health care services as well as access to a volunteer general practitioner and registered nurse.

Other services range from helping refugees find accommodation to providing them a hot meal for the day.

The demand for the centre’s services has increased over the last two years, with an additional 380 new clients to cater for.

The theme for Refugee Week in 2010 and 2011 will be ‘Freedom from Fear’; the quest for freedom from fear is at the heart of a refugee’s flight from danger.

The aim of Refugee Week, celebrated since 1986, is to create a better understanding between different communities and to encourage successful integration, enabling refugees to live in safety.

“It’s an important week as it highlights the plight and trauma of how asylum seekers survived and to show the circumstances they come from,” Ms Gulati says.

“It also shows what not-for profit organisations do for this country.”