Leading Firefighter Adam Shearer, from left, Jackie Molloy from New Hope Foundation, Mark Ott from Wyndham Youth Services and Andrew Barry from the Hoppers Crossing Fire Brigade. 77334 Picture: XAVIER SMERDON
By XAVIER SMERDON
COMMUNITY minded people from across Wyndham have united in a bid to remove the stigma surrounding uniforms.
Now in its fifth year the Breaking Barriers camp takes a group of newly arrived Wyndham refugees to Geelong for three days of confidence building.
The camp is organised by Wyndham Youth Services, the Open Family Foundation, the New Hope Foundation, Victoria Police and the CFA.
Leading Firefighter Adam Shearer from Geelong was at the Hoppers Crossing fire station last week to talk about the success of the program.
Mr Shearer told Star a major benefit of the camp was that it made police and firefighter’s jobs slightly easier.
“It’s about breaking down the stigma of uniforms,” Mr Shearer said.
“We’ve been to incidents where newly arrived immigrants have failed to call us because they think they might get in trouble.
“We try to teach them that people in uniform are not to be feared.”
Mark Ott, from Wyndham Youth Services, said that the participants started to come out of their shell by the end of the camp.
“Definitely a big part of the camp, besides demisting concerns around uniform, is helping them understand the other services available in their community,” Mr Ott said.
“The overall objective is that they don’t need to surrender their culture but they can add to the current one.”
For more information on the camps call New Hope Foundation on 9974 1700 or Wyndham Youth Services on 9742 8155.
