Historical Background

Historical Background

The Nepalese Australian Association (NAA) was established in 1976 with the objectives of assisting newly arrived Nepalese and to act as an unofficial embassy in providing information about Nepal to Australians.

 

Since the establishment of this Nepalese & Australian Association, there has been an increase in Nepali population in Sydney. With the removal of White Australia Policy in the 60’s and opening the door to the Asian skilled people in the 80’s, Australia experienced influxes of skilled migrants and visitors from all around the world including Nepal. Further, the acceptance of private fee paying Asian students by the Australian universities encouraged Nepalese to come to study in Australia. We also saw influxes of Nepalese looking for a safe home after the outbreak of the insurgency in Nepal.

Embracing the objectives of the Association, we organised a number of receptions. We held an informal luncheon for late Tenzing Sherpa and Sir Edmond Hillary. We have also been continuously interacting and exchanging our ideas with the Australian diplomats, assigned to assume positions in Nepal, and visiting Nepalese officials, academics and other visitors from Nepal to Sydney. Our major concern has always been to provide financial assistance to Nepal for health, education and natural disasters etc. The Association’s policy of helping the needy back in Nepal resulted in our playing a key role in lunching the Nepal Eye program in Sydney, 1988.

 

Australia has always been an attractive destination for overseas students due to a high quality education it offers. In the hope of obtaining high qualification and building a bright future, thousands of Nepalese arrived in Australia from 1990’s to late 2000 and this trend continues to this date. Since John Howard government introduced permanent residency, many qualified Nepalese students have made Australia their new home and built successful lives and careers. The opening of permanent residency to overseas skilled works also brought many skilled Nepalese as the new residence of this country. Addressing the need of the growing Nepalese community, we have been actively organising and participating in many social activities and interacting with other communities with the goal of promoting and preserving Nepalese cultures and festivals in Australia. Regular get together, Family fun days, barbecues, social entertainment programs have brought everyone together.

We have also seen many unemployed Nepalese students under-employed and many were struggling even applying for a job. This could have been due to lack of understanding of the job market, lack of a proper guidance or increased competition in job market which is already difficult due to global financial crisis. We took a bold step to help recently graduated students living in Australia find a right job based on their qualifications and skills and organised first ever Job Search Interactive Program in Sydney. This conference offered some guidance in resume writing, job application, or changing or advancing career.

 

Despite successes, for many, experiences our new home has offered have not been so easy. Many new members of our community have struggled to complete their education and start a decent lives due to very difficult situations affecting financial, physical and emotional state. Many had become ill and struggled to pay off their medical expenses, few were caught in different accidents and faced serious injuries that took many years to heal and few even lost their loved ones and left with a pain for the rest of their lives. Nothing will replace the loss the families were left behind with but we, along with the whole Nepalese community, were always there to help and support each other emotionally and financially. One of the strengths of our organisation is to lead and support each other when we face difficulties situations ranging from emotional and humanitarian. These are the roles we play and the values we carry and will continue to do so in future.

 

The country we were born in, the neighborhood we grew up in and the education we received were the building blocks of many of our successes that we enjoy today. The same successes could be achieved to some extent by many children in Nepal if they were given opportunities to educate. With our small steps, we believe that we can make a giant difference in the lives of many children. To put our belief into practice, we started sponsoring five children in Nepal in 2007 and the sponsorship is continuing to this date. One Family: One Child Sponsorship Program followed soon after and we now have more than 75 participating families who are actively doing a fundraising to take our sponsorship program to the next level.