Five BSSC Karen students with refugee backgrounds have been selected to represent Victoria at the Futsal Nationals in Brisbane during the September holidays.
Can you help their dreams come true?
Bendigo Senior Secondary College is lucky to have a growing number of students from a refugee background as part of its community. Our Karen students have lived most of their lives in refugee camps on the Thailand/Burma border due to it not being safe for them to live in their homeland of Karen State.
Life in a refugee camp is very challenging, which has built resilience, compassion and inner-strength in our students. They have been in Australia for varying amounts of time, with some arriving just last week while others have been here for a few years. Our role at BSSC is to support these students to integrate into life in Bendigo and Australia, develop their English skills and most importantly, to feel safe and valued.
In late July, one of our staff organised for Futsul Victoria to come and run a workshop with our students. By the end of the session, five Karen students had been offered a place on the Victorian team.
This is amazing for our students and a real credit to them.
The Nationals are being held in Brisbane in the September school holidays and it costs $1700 per student to attend. Our school can fund $300 per student but $1400 is still unattainable for our Karen refugee-background students.
Your generosity can allow our students to take up this fantastic experience, have the trip of a lifetime and represent their new home in a national competition.
