Below are some details on topics that HARDA currently has an active interest in, and would like to draw attention to.
Swimming 2023
The HARDA 2023 Swim, Survive & Socialise, our free summer swimming program for 6 – 17yo is now open for enrolments. The 10 day program will take place on weekdays from Mon 9th Jan – Fri 20th Jan 2023. If you wish to enroll your kids pls fill in this form & email it back to harda@harda.org.au or contact Fiona Carr on 0434 187 753 if you have any queries.
Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA) Media release (July 9, 2023) - The Settlement Council of Australia (SCOA) welcomes the Federal Government’s package of reforms announced on Monday designed to address migrant worker exploitation. The Minister of Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles committed to introducing three important protections for migrant workers: protection against visa cancellation; flexible visa requirements for future sponsorship visas; and a short-term visa to bring claims for wages they are owed and hold exploitative employers to account. SCOA has long been advocating for reforms to migrant worker exploitation and visa protections. Led by the Human Rights Law Centre, Migrant Justice Institute and academics at UNSW and UTS, SCOA… Read more
2022 Swim, Survive and Socialise (December 23, 2022) - HARDA ran the 2022 session of our flagship Swim, Survive and Socialise Program (delayed from the January school holidays due to COVID) daily over the two-week Easter 2022 school break. As always, the program was a success and the children and families who attended appreciated and enjoyed the lessons. Over one hundred participants were initially enrolled in the two-week program. Some highlights of this year's session included: · The parent safety session, which was very well-received, and attended by the majority of the mothers present on the day. The parents asked a lot of questions and enjoyed doing CPR on… Read more
2023 Swimming enrollment now open (December 18, 2022) - The HARDA 2023 Swim, Survive & Socialise, our free summer swimming program for 6 - 17yo is now open for enrollments. The 10 day program will take place on weekdays from Mon 9th Jan - Fri 20th Jan 2023. If you wish to enroll your kids please fill in this form (download link is below) ASAP & email it back to harda@harda.org.au or contact Fiona Carr on 0434 187 753 if you have any queries. Consent-Application-Form-2023Download Read more
CommBank Community Donation Program (December 11, 2022) - HARDA are thrilled to be included as one of the two organisations nominated by CommBank’s Sydney Markets branch to receive a funding boost from CommBank – but we need your vote! Follow the link below and enter Sydney Markets to access your local voting options and vote for us! Visit commbank.com.au/communitydonations. Click on the link, then on Vote Now, select Homebush West or Sydney Markets as the branch and vote for HARDA! Thanks for your support! Read more
2022 Swim, Survive and Socialise (February 4, 2022) - Unfortunately the annual Harda Swimming Program for 6-17yo to be held in January 2022 had to be postponed this year due to covid, which was very disappointing for all involved & we apologise to all the kids who were looking forward to it. However we are hoping to run it in the Easter holidays, from Mon April 11th to Fri Apr 22nd. This will run on weekdays and be an 8 day program due to the Easter public holidays when it will not operate. Sessions & participants will be the same as advised for the Jan program and will be… Read more
Emergency support for local communities during Covid (Jan 2022) (February 3, 2022) - In October HARDA was fortunate to receive a grant from Multicultural NSW through their Empowering and Supporting Local Communities Program. This allowed us to continue to provide emergency supplies support as well as Covid and Vaccination information to members of our communities who were struggling to put food on the table due to the Covid pandemic. We also supplied 942 bottles (142lt) of hand sanitizer (sourced through Good360 Australia) and 8,000 masks to the South Sudanese and Somalia communities. Read more
End of Year party (December 16, 2021) - We recently held a small celebration to mark the end of another year of our successful Jobs for African Migrants Program. Although the lockdown provided additional challenges, thanks to our wonderful mentors and participants, we were able to keep the program running and found jobs for many of our program participants. We're looking forward to helping more of them find work next year! Read more Emergency support for local communities during Covid (Oct 2021) (October 24, 2021) - HARDA was very fortunate that the Scanlon Foundation provided an Emergency Support grant in a extremely short time frame in early August so that we could provide urgent assistance to community members experiencing severe hardship due to them or their families having contracted Covid, needing to be in isolation or due to the long lockdown. This help was provided by email in the form of Woolworths gift cards to enable contactless delivery of food and other urgently needed essentials. Information was also provided on the financial assistance available from the government, on Covid restrictions and requirements, on vaccinations and in… Read more