ALLAG Activities

During the past year, ALLAG has been actively promoting the cause of the African diospara in Australia. Some of those activities have been:

Interview on SBS:

Following the ECCV workshop, the media response was huge.

Dr Renzaho was interviewed by SBS to discuss the issues raised by the forum.

Spotlight on Stereotypes public forum:

Dr Renzaho was a panellist discussing the topic “Multicultural Communities and the Media”. This Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria sponsored event brought together the media organisations (ABC and SBS) with prominent representatives of our multicultural Australia.

The event was also discussed on ABC radio 774 with Red Symons, who interviewed panellist Indira Naidoo, as well as on SBS and the Arabic program on 3 ZZZ. The ECCV produced a DVD summarising these successes and including all the speeches and radio interviews. The CD was played on World Refugee Day (June 20th) by radio stations 3 ZZZ and 3 RRR.

Interview on 3RRR:

Dr Renzaho was interviewed on radio 3 RRR following the interest generated by the Cultural Integration and Harmony Initiative.

Interview with The Age:

Four days after the “Angels’ Voices Band” performance at the African Cultural Integration and Harmony Initiative, the Shepparton based performers were profiled in “The Age” newspaper and invited to repeat their performance. ALLAG’s event raised the awareness of how successful a disenfranchised and disempowered African community can become if given adequate support.

African Cultural Integration and Harmony Initiative:

Over the last two decades there have been a proliferation of African associations in Victoria, (more than 25 as of March 2009). Unfortunately, there is often intolerance within and across various African migrant associations, usually based on tribal affiliation and geographic demarcation in countries of origin. The aim for the African cultural integration and harmony initiative was to bring together African migrants from across Victoria, representatives from various African migrant associations, and service providers working with African migrants, to celebrate the richness of African culture. More than 50 people came together to enjoy a night of discussion, presentations and music.

Executive Director’s report:

Dr Renzaho reported to the ALLAG 1st Annual General Meeting on the progress and achievements during ALLAG’s start up period.

ALLAG engages with students:

Our Executive Director, Dr André Renzaho was interviewed for the University of Queensland’s campus radio station JACradio. Dr Renzaho discusses the challenges facing African migrants to Australia and what the catalyst was to founding ALLAG.