Muzafar, Khadim, Tahira, Nagina, Natiqa, Myself, and the staff and students from the Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre (CRLC) have loved meeting you at the screenings around Australia. Watching audiences laugh, cry and connect with the refugee community in Cisarua has given us more enthusiasm and energy.
We love presenting the message of refugee resilience and capacity to Australia. What better way to bring our two communities together than spending an evening at the cinema watching their inspiring story. There are more screenings planned in the new year. If you’d like to hold your own cinema or community event please be in touch.
Muzafar and I are excited to be invited to speak at the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) in Thessaloniki, Greece, next year. We’re told it’s a big deal. We’ll be presenting the idea that ‘refugees can and should be a part of the refugee crisis solution’, and that ‘even though a community is weak, still they can do something’. We’re really looking forward to it.
Ever want to be an executive producer, producer of a film? Or just want to help? Then here’s your chance!
We have begun filming the second ‘episode’ of The Staging Post and we are going to need some support. If you can, please make a tax-deductible donation at Documentary Australia Foundation. Sorry to always ask but this is just the beginning. This story has a long way to go yet.
This time I’ll travel with Khadim, Muzafar and Tahira as they meet the resettled refugee families from the CRLC. We want to hear about their experience and see how they coping. Most have gone directly into their age-appropriate classes without even taking ‘English as a Second Language’ classes. We know the CRLC had a lot to do with this and their new lives will be juxtaposed against the ongoing limbo for staff and students in Cisarua.
The day when Muzafar, Khadim and I met four years ago we all felt that something was going to happen but we could never have dreamed we would end up here. Now we have that same feeling again and we’re going to see it through!
Thanks for accompanying the refugees in Cisarua and for being a part of our journey.
Have a very merry Christmas. We look forward to meeting again in 2018.
Love and respect
Jolyon, Muzafar and Khadim.