Building Belonging: Sports Clubs Explore Refugee Journeys During Refugee Week

On the 16th of June, Sports Focus and Bendigo Community Health Services (BCHS) held an Understanding Refugee Journey session – an inspiring and meaningful way to celebrate Refugee Week.

The Understanding Refugee Journey session, developed and delivered by the incredible Cultural Diversity Team at BCHS – many of whom have lived experience as refugees – was open to all sporting clubs across the Greater Bendigo region. The session focused on the Karen and Afghan (Hazara) communities, two of the largest and fastest growing refugee populations in the region. Aimed at the community sports sector, it offered participants valuable insights into the refugee journey, helped build cultural awareness, and provided practical strategies for creating inclusive, welcoming, and culturally safe environments.

Pictured are Nido Taveesupmai, who brings lived experience as a Karen refugee, and Zahir Azimi, who brings lived experience as an Afghan (Hazara) refugee. Both Nido and Zahir are Refugee Project Workers at BCHS, sharing their passion and valuable insights during the session, creating a meaningful and practical real-world learning experience.

The session had attendees from a variety of sports, clubs and associations across Greater Bendigo – including lawn bowls, volleyball, soccer, tennis, baseball and rowing. The participants gained a deeper understanding of the refugee experience, both before and after resettlement to Australia, learnt about the cultural values, traditions, and challenges faced by Karen and Afghan (Hazara) community members, developed strategies to create a more welcoming, culturally safe and inclusive environment, and built confidence in engaging respectfully with players, families, and volunteers from refugee backgrounds.

Laura Bradley, Community Development and Partnerships Lead at Sports Focus, collaborated closely with BCHS to help bring this valuable opportunity to life. On reflection after the session, Laura said “We are so fortunate to have people like Zahir and Nido who are willing to share their personal stories and journeys for the betterment of our community sports clubs. I look forward to continuing to support the clubs in attendance on their cultural inclusion journey. Providing opportunities and environments that are welcoming, inclusive and culturally safe not only have a profound impact on refugee and new arrival communities’ health and wellbeing, they also provide enormous benefits for the whole community. If other clubs are interested in being more culturally inclusive, I would love to hear from them.”

A heartfelt thank you to the dedicated team at BCHS, including Kaye Graves, for delivering such an impactful session, to Golden City FC for hosting the session, and to all the sporting clubs, associations and participants who took part with such openness and enthusiasm.