By Karen PoH
A $10,000 grant from the Victorian Multicultural Commission has given Vojvodina Club, a Yugoslavian youth folk dancing ensemble in Albion, a much needed boost.
The club’s treasurer, Michael Koncz, received the cheque from the member for Western Metropolitan Region Khalil Eidah last Tuesday.
It’s the first time the club has received such a sizeable grant, Mr Koncz said.
“We started folk group dancing for the last 23 years, this is the first time we’re getting a large sum like $10,000,” he said.
The money will go towards completing the group’s new clubroom.
“We have yet to finish, (there’s) power and electricity, spotlights, yard lighting and all that.
“The kitchen is three-quarters complete,” Mr Koncz said.
The club’s vision is clear, Vojvodino Club President Rada Ovuka said.
And that is to raise up a healthy generation of young people, help newly arrived migrants settle in, and preserve unity, culture and tradition.
Interaction between the generations through activities like folk dancing has been beneficial to the young ones, Ms Ovuka said.
“We can teach them to behave, keep off drugs and alcohol… learn from us,” she said.
The club is named after the Vojvodina province in Serbia, which is home to many different ethnic groups and languages within a relatively small area.
“We have members who say they still feel like when it was a long time ago, that it was unbelievable, like being in Serbia,” Ms Ovuka said.
“I respect the country (Australia)… it’s given them a chance to find unity here,” she said.
Chris Markovic, a journalist for the Serbian daily newspaper Verti, has attended many of the club’s events.
“What the club does here is that… all the different nationalities join in the club together,” Mr Markovic said.
“This is a club where no one asks anyone for nationality, what language they speak.
“The people don’t talk about politics… they really enjoy the part of Serbia which Vojvodina is famous about – the music, the joy.
“You see, in Yugoslavia, all the different nationalities they split. And this is one club in Melbourne… who keep all the different nationalities from Yugoslavia together.
“The members of the club are really trying to keep themselves together,” he said.
Robert Mammarella, electorate officer for Western Metropolitan Region member Khalil Eideh, praised Vojvodina Club for being an “exemplary multicultural club”.
“These people are so mixed and they come together just to maintain their specific love for their folk dancing and music and things like that, which is really great,” Mr Mammarella said.
“The fact that they have their own clubroom in this climate says it all.
“A lot of clubs are closing down, these people through their hard work, their savings, just sheer involvement have been able to achieve what a lot of clubs in the western suburbs just can’t do.
“It’s not so much a grant as to say thank you for putting into practice multiculturalism at work,” he said.
The club is intent on safeguarding these principles.
A deed of trust has already been established, Mr Mammarella said.
“If the next generation comes along and loses interest in it, their charter is abolished and the club is then sold, half goes to the Royal Children’s Hospital and half goes to a designated welfare agency, ” he said.
“You don’t have this problem of infighting. They know from the start exactly where it’s going to go, and it’s important.”
