Dear Visitor ji,
In this issue:
Community Heroes
FINACT acknowledges and pays tribute to the unsung heroes - the frontline workers who have been providing us essential goods and services during the extended lockdown in ACT. In this newsletter we share with you some stories from selected members of our community heroes. Huge thanks to you from all of us!
Spring Colours of Canberra
Spring has well and truly sprung! It is the best time of the year to enjoy bright blooms in gardens all around Canberra. Understandably, Canberra’s famous tourist attraction, Floriade, had to be reimagined for a second year in a row due to the lockdown. However, Floriade is coming to the suburbs - see location near you. We can still enjoy spring colours in our backyards. Gardening is a great way to engage kids & let them explore nature. It is an ideal way to stay fit physically and mentally.
Vax-up Canberra!
58.8% of Canberrans aged over 12 had 2 doses of vaccination as of 26 September. We need more people to get vaccinated to ease restrictions. FINACT has a simple message to Canberrans - get vaccinated, follow health advice from the authorities, stay safe and save lives! We continue to assist Canberrans where we can. Stay safe - the end is nigh!
Congratulations!
Two FINACT member organisations, Canberra Malayalees Association (CMA) and Navya Andhra Telugu Association (NATA), have new committees in place. FINACT congratulates new committee members including Ms Ammu Manicketh, President CMA and Ms Sahithi Paturi, President NATA. FINACT appreciates all members for volunteering their valuable time for community service and we look forward to working with the new committees.
Community Engagement
FINACT EC has been busy meeting with member organisations, past presidents and community leaders who were able to give us time, seeking their advice and guidance for useful things FINACT can pursue this year. Thank you for the encouragement and all the useful suggestions so far. We have collated all these suggestions and will be shared with all member organisations shortly. EC is looking forward to the General Council meeting on 18 October.
Shanti Reddy
FINACT President
Meeting with Minister Shane Rattenbury & Andrew Braddock MLA
FINACT EC had a productive meeting with Minister Rattenbury and Andrew Braddock, MLA on 24 September.
Soon after the AGM, we wrote to several members of the ACT Assembly and all five members of Federal Parliament to introduce the new committee and request further follow-up meetings to discuss community issues.
This was the first of many such meetings with other members of ACT Assembly and members of Federal Parliament. In this meeting, Minister Rattenbury and MLA Braddock were interested to hear about community views on several topics such as COVID impacts and how we are coping, vaccination in general and vaccination of children, and wellbeing of our community in general.
Minister Rattenbury was impressed by the work done to date, noting that the practical things we do are very valuable.
The Minister also noted that FINACT does a great job in representing the community, as an umbrella body, providing collective views of diverse Indian diaspora.
The Minister assured his support to FINACT going forward in improving our services to the community.
Thank you Minister Rattenbury and MLA Braddock.
Relevance of Gandhi in the Modern Times
Greetings from High Commission of India, Canberra!
As part of the Gandhi Jayanti & Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, the High Commission of India in Canberra is organizing an webinar on "Relevance of Gandhi in modern times" by Gandhian scholar, Dr. Shobhana Radhakrishna & Prof. Satendra Nandan on Saturday, 2nd October 2021 (Webinar event flyer attached)
It is kindly requested to the participants to kindly mute their microphones at all times during the webinar except speakers of the event.
High Commission of India Canberra is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Relevance of Gandhi in the modern times
Time: Oct 2, 2021 11:00 AM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4572158758?pwd=ZkRnN2ZGNHJKZG9yTmN1STE1QzdHQT09
Meeting ID: 457 215 8758
Passcode: India@75
Thanks
Kind Regards,
Ms. Aarti Kare
Press Information & Culture Section
High Commission of India-Canberra
Community Heroes
While many of us can work from the safety and comfort of our homes, there are plenty of frontline workers who have to go to work everyday, to deliver essential goods and services such as medical treatment, vaccinations, harvesting crops, lugging produce from farms to shops, delivering groceries, etc. FINACT acknowledges and pays our tribute to these unsung heroes who are keeping us going. They do such an amazing job, risking their own comfort and safety in times like these. In this newsletter we share with you a few stories from selected members of our community heroes - huge thanks to you from all of us!
 “I am Preeyanka, one of the nurses working at Winnunga Nimmityjah aboriginal health services. Life has been complicated with all this covid situation. Working as a health care worker during this pandemic has been challenging but at the same time this has been rewarding as well.
I am glad that I am a front line worker and I am able to help people. Fear of this virus is always there but appreciation from my clients always has been motivation to work harder. I would strongly recommend all to get their vaccinations which is the only shield for this virus. Get yours and encourage others too. Please be aware and stay safe!!”
 “I am Satheesh Kovvuri, one of the GPs working at Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Services. Covid-19 has complicated life for everyone globally in the last 18months.
Working as a front line worker is challenging during these difficult times but is rewarding as well at the same time. I am happy that I'm able to help people during these difficult times and appreciation from my clients motivates me to work harder. It is a balancing act between helping vulnerable clients and keeping my family safe.
Though it is challenging, I am glad that I am able to support people that need us the most during this time. All the research so far has shown that vaccinated people are better protected against Covid-19. I would strongly recommend everyone to get vaccinated and encourage others to get one too. Please follow health advice to prevent outbreaks and to reduce infection. There is no room for complacency.”
 “I am Gurvansh, a frontline worker delivering groceries to hundreds of people everyday, making sure our community members have essential supplies at home, allowing them to feed their family members. I am proud of my work as food is such a basic necessity, as important as health services these days.
My job is challenging in the current environment, however, at the same time, quite satisfying as I am helping so many people to timely access to essential food supplies.
I am fully vaccinated but it is important to keep my family safe as I can still carry viruses despite being vaccinated, which is an additional complexity we need to think about.”
 “I am Kinjal Vekariya, a disability worker at Aspirations2live, which is a registered NDIS provider in ACT and NSW. As a service provider and carer, I provide services to all our participants with their daily living needs by ensuring they receive support for personal care, domestic assistance, purchase of groceries, organise necessary medicines & PPE for any emergencies and prepare or deliver cooked meals to their homes.
It has been challenging to assist our participants in maintaining their mental health and wellbeing. Restrictions on usual activities have induced increased mental stress and anxiety in many participants. Some participants have limited understanding of information to protect them, relying on carers to be vigilant on their behalf during quarantine.
My job has been challenging however rewarding too during pandemic, lots of appreciation from families keep me going. With the pandemic continuing to impact our lives, looking after our mental health and wellbeing is more important than ever. I request all the members in the community to stay safe, follow the health directions and get vaccinated if you haven’t already.” 
Truck driver Peter delivers food supplies to Franklin Woolworths.
Webinar on Remote Learning in Collaboration with
ACT Education Directorate
FINACT hosted a successful webinar on 21 September, discussing various aspects of remote learning and home schooling, in collaboration with the ACT Education Directorate. Mark Alliston, Kym Turnbull and Murray McKay from the Learning and Teaching branch at the ACT Education Directorate presented the webinar. They have a vast range of experience across primary, high school and tertiary education settings and have been involved with leading the ACT Education Directorate’s response to COVID, including developing resources and websites for teachers and families. They’ve shared with the community members on how the ACT Education Directorate is helping our teachers and students during remote learning.
Their presentation was followed by Sheela Awadhwal, who has been teaching in ACT for more than 20 years. Sheela ji shared several valuable tips for parents, which are summarised below for the benefit of those who couldn't make it to the event.
- Be device ready- Mic and Cameras should be working!
- Have good stable internet connection
- Have the Time Table clearly visible to know what time you have to connect – set alarms
- Should be able to use Google Add Ons such as Google sheets, Google Draw, Google Read and Write, Google Slides
- Online Etiquette is important- be attired properly on camera, be on time, raise hand in G Meet to ask questions- most students do follow this.
- Communicate with the teacher directly if you need to touch base as a parent. Ensure you know the name of the teacher and what subject is taught by that teacher.
- Students and guardians should be aware what assessments are due when and encourage, facilitate this with your child – Information is always available on G Classroom from the teacher.
- High school & college tasks require very good resources and references to complete the task to a high standard. Senior students should Join ACT Library to be able to use quality resources – all accessible online- rather than just do a Google Search and Wikipedia.
- For High school and college students - Online Assessments tasks are skills based and do not always rely heavily on content - data interpretations, graphing skills, critical analysis, annotating and drawing skills etc are very important!
Useful remote learning web links shared in the webinar -
Guardian Email Summaries FAQ: https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/7126518?hl=en&ref_topic=6024979
About Guardian Summaries: https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6386354?hl=en&ref_topic=6024979
Setting up Guardian Summaries: https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6388136?hl=en
Home Learning Resources: https://sites.google.com/ed.act.edu.au/act-home-learning/resources-to-support-home-learning
All the best to students and parents!
COVID-19 Vaccination Promotion
FINACT has been collaborating with the ACT Health Department to promote the importance of vaccination in the community.
FINACT’s multilingual video message has been extremely successful, and continues to spread the word. We request all eligible members get vaccinated as soon as possible as it is the first step to relax lockdown restrictions.
Despite best efforts, it appears a significant portion of Canberra's population will not be vaccinated anytime soon, which is going to be a difficult challenge we need to confront in the coming months.
Kaiyoppu - New Magazine from Canberra Malayalee Community
Canberra Malayalees Association (CMA) is currently celebrating its Tenth Anniversary from inception. On this occasion, CMA launched its prestigious magazine “Kaiyoppu” during an online event conducted on Sunday,12th September 2021.
The magazine was inaugurated by Honourable Minister of Kerala for Fisheries and Cultural Shri Saji Cherian. Honourable Minister of Kerala for Water Authority, Shri Roshy Augustine, gave the Inaugural message. Prominent Writer and Poet Shri Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma launched the Kaiyoppu 2021 annual issue. Past CMA presidents gave their wishes and their experience of releasing Kaiyoppu magazine during their tenures. Several members shared their experiences by contributing literary articles and artworks. Many prominent members from the community joined the event and shared their Joy and wishes.
Sri Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma - a renowned Malayalam Lyricist and Poet.
New Executive Committee - Canberra Malayalees Association (CMA)
New Executive Committee has taken charge at the Canberra Malayalees Association (CMA) for the year 2021-22 with Mrs. Ammu Suresh Manicketh as the President of the Association. This team consists of Nineteen wonderfully talented and highly successful individuals from all walks of life. FINACT wishes the new team all the best and looks forward to working with them closely in the coming months.
New Executive Committee - Navya Andhra TeluguAssociation (NATA)
After a stellar job, the previous Executive Committee had stepped down to make way for the new committee at the recent AGM on 19 September 2021. New President, Sahithi Paturi, thanked the outgoing committee for their fantastic effort in engaging, supporting the community and organising community events successfully amidst pandemic situations. This year executive roles are given more focus on community collaboration (CC) and community Development (CD) and support. FINACT wishes the new team all the best and looks forward to working with them closely in the coming months.
Spring Colours of Canberra
Floriade is reimagined for the second year in a row, which means it is coming to suburbs near you, spreading bursts of colour all over Canberra. You can find the locations of potted and boxed plantings near you in this map.
This is also the best time to enjoy colours in your own backyard. Go for a walk around your neighbourhood, get exercise while enjoying the beauty of Canberra spring colours. Enjoy some snippets of spring colours we captured for our readers!
Your input/event for FINACT newsletter is appreciated and welcome
Newsletter for communities
You will appreciate that newsletters are critical instrument and platform to meet our functional, operational and strategic communication needs. We have been using this infrastructure for long to effectively interact with you.
Funding under the digital grants from the ACT Government has further boosted our capabilities and confidence in meeting our objectives. We thank the ACT Government for their generosity that enables us to extend our tools to our member associations. Please see below for more information on how you can use this feature.
As you know FINACT newsletter is generally published once a month. If our member associations like to publish their organisation's event in the FINACT newsletter, please provide the following information:
- Event name, date, time and venue followed by text
- Text in word format (not PDF)
- Text within 150 words
- One image/picture if needed.
If you have a flyer ready for the event then FINACT can also publish the flyer in the newsletter.
You can submit this information at [email protected] by the last week of month - marked as For FINACT Newsletter.
What else FINACT can do for you?
We acknowlege that not all associations can afford to have mailing lists or tools to regularly interact/communicate with their members. FINACT has tools and capacity to be of your assistance. You may subscribe your members on our subscription page.
Sponsorship Appreciated for FINACT Events
We understand that one of the main reasons to sponsor a tournament and any event could be to promote one’s business and generate goodwill in the community. Sponsoring the FINACT events will give you brand recognition among the fastest-growing community group of Indians in the ACT and increase sales or traffic to sponsor’s website through their banner on our website (www.finact.net.au ).
Indians are the fastest growing population in Australia. This has resulted in increased air traffic between India and Australia; increased telecommunication; and enhanced trade and cultural ties. For sporting events - players and their supporters make playing cricket a fiercely competitive and memorable event. They will promote the game and use your services to show their appreciation.
In addition to providing an excellent opportunity to connect with the Indian sub-continent communities, the FINACT events' sponsorship will:
- enable sponsors to reach out to wider community groups in ACT and surrounds
- fulfil sponsors business objectives and attract sizeable potential customers
- provide a lasting impression of their business
- promote sports and physical activities in the community
- motivate and assist young players participating in the tournament and community activities
- attract favourable feedback from organisers and media partners
- generate great feel-good stories in Indian community and back to India and neighbouring countries and
- fulfil sponsor’s corporate and social responsibilities
If you are willing to or interested in sponsoring our events, please contact us soon.
|
