A Salon as part of the Frayed Lives, Threads of Hope program

Presented by the Australian Fulbright Alumni Association and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre

Thursday 21st of November from 6pm to 9pm

Lavalla Centre, 58 Fernberg Rd, Paddington

Image Credit: "Coping with Disasters: Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia" by United Nations Photo

Purpose

This special event brings together people with lived experience, performers and Fulbright scholars to discuss the global refugee crisis and identify opportunities to strengthen local action.

Frayed Lives

• The refugee crisis has reached epic proportions.
• 68.5 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, environmental crises and/or human rights violations.
• Refugee status is rarely temporary.
• Only a tiny fraction of the world’s refugees has access to resettlement options.
• We are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record.

Civic society has been redefined through the refugee crisis.

‘Frayed Lives’ doesn’t just apply to people seeking asylum and refugees – but to all members of civic society. Our collective fate as a civilisation is linked to the way that our institutions care for -- or punish -- asylum seekers. The systemic barriers placed in front of asylum seekers not only cause their lives to fray but weaken the social fabric of the wider civic society.

Amazing Speakers, Audience Engagement & Light Dinner

The program features Frayed Lives convenor, Dr Mara Adelman, and a range of other speakers as listed below.

Audience members will be invited to respond to talks in round table discussions and answer the question, “What can I do?”  The presenters have created provocative questions and various options for how we can move to greater understanding and action on this global crisis.  Light dinner will be served.

Tickets are $15 for Adults and $10 for Concession. You can purchase your ticket using the buttons on the left-hand side of this page.

Would you like to be a table facilitator?

Table facilitators will support and encourage discussion at each table and gather key points to share with the plenary group. Dr Mara Adelman will provide a quick training session prior to the Salon. If you would like to be a table facilitator, you may purchase a 'Table Facilitator' ticket at the discounted rate of $10 (places are limited).

About the curator: Dr Mara Adelman

This event will be led by Dr Mara Adelman, Emeritus Associate Professor of Communication from Seattle University.

Dr Adelman received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington and then joined Northwestern University.  She joined Seattle University, Department of Communication in 1994.  She is author of Beyond Language: Cross-cultural communication for ESL (co-authored with Deena Levine; Prentice Hall, 1987, 1997), and an award-winning ethnographic study of the second largest home for persons with AIDS, The Fragile Community (co-authored with Lawrence R. Frey; Lawrence Erlbaum, 1997).  Her research and scholarship focuses on cross-cultural communication and adaptation, restorative solitude, interpersonal and organizational social interaction.

In 2012, Dr Adelman was a Fulbright Specialist at the Department of Communication at the University of Mekelle in northern Ethiopia and a Fulbright Specialist at the Department of English at Fudan University, Shanghai, China from October-December 2017. In both programs, she developed culture-specific, required courses in Cross-cultural Communication.

Mara recently delivered Frayed Lives to a full house in her home city of Napa, California.

Event speakers

Iain Butterworth, AFAA President, Frayed Lives program manager

Iain is trained in community psychology, with an interest in healthy, liveable, sustainable cities and communities. He has extensive experience in building innovative, intersectoral partnerships between citizens, practitioners and policy makers.

Kagi Kowa, QLD Community Organiser and Refugee Advocate, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre – Brisbane

Kagi Kowa was born in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan but sought safety in a Kenyan refugee camp where she lived for most of her young life until coming to Australia in 2015. An accomplished artist, Kagi is currently pursuing a Social Science degree at UQ.

Dr Zachary Dunbar, Frayed Lives musical curator

Zachary Dunbar is Senior lecturer in Theatre and Performing Arts Graduate Research Convenor (Faculty of Fine Arts & Music, University of Melbourne). He trained as a concert pianist and completed his studies as a Fulbright scholar at the Royal College of Music. Since then, he has also developed a freelance career as a theatre director, writer and composer whose works have been produced in the UK, Europe and Australia. As a scholar, he has several publications in Music theatre, Ancient drama, and Theatre history.

Faysel Magan

Faysel Ahmed Selat (aka Faysel Magan) was born in Somalia but his family sought safety in a refugee camp in Eritrea. In October 2013, he arrived with his family in Brisbane. Faysel recently completed a Bachelor of Health Science degree majoring in Public Health at the University of Queensland. Faysel motivates and helps refugees to use the resources available to them to improve their physical health, to strengthen their psychological resilience and to integrate and succeed in Australia.

Dr Kate Murray, Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology and Counselling Faculty of Health, QUT

Dr Kate Murray’s research focuses on the role of acculturation, stress, and health behaviours and their contribution to mental health and chronic disease concerns among immigrant and refugee communities. In 2007, Kate was a Visiting Fulbright Fellow at the University of Queensland. She compared refugee resettlement programs in the United States and Australia.

Helen Zahos, Humanitarian, Emergency Nurse and Paramedic

Helen Zahos has volunteered in disaster areas around the world and has cared for some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Helen has volunteered in Iraq in IDP Camps, in the Philippines after a Typhoon, and assisted during the Syrian refugee crisis on the border of Greece.

Musical performance by Beckah Amani

Beckah Amani is a singer-songwriter from the Gold Coast, QLD. Originally born in east Africa in Tanzania, Beckah draws influence from soul, alternative folk and R’N’B.