It started as a conference. People came, talked about what the community needed, and went home.
That was the useful part and also the frustrating part. There was no shortage of people who had noticed something that needed doing — somebody who could see that new arrivals get lost between three different services, somebody whose kids needed a place to be after school, somebody who had been quietly helping families with paperwork for years.
What was missing was anywhere for that to go. If you had an idea, your options were to drop it or to go and start an organisation from scratch without knowing how. Most people, sensibly, dropped it.
What we are
The Eritrean Muslim Collective is the part that was missing. You bring something you want to try; we help you shape it into a pilot small enough to actually run, give you the framework and the workshops, introduce you to people already working nearby, and stay with it while it finds its feet.
Then it is yours. It carries your name, not ours.
Why specifically for Eritrean Muslims
The Eritrean community in Australia is well served by organisations that speak to it as a whole, and we are not duplicating that work. But a general community organisation, quite reasonably, addresses what everyone has in common.
Much of what we deal with is not religious at its core — settling in, raising teenagers, finding work, ageing, mental health. It is not separable from faith either. That perspective is what we build into a program from the start, rather than adding at the end.
What is here now
- Projects — the ideas being worked on, and the honest stage each is at
- Roles — specific ways to help a specific project
- Events — workshops and gatherings
- Community — Eritrean Muslim organisations around Australia, whether or not we work with them
We are starting by piloting a few programs ourselves, because the fastest way to show somebody this is possible is to have done it. It is early, and some of what you see is placeholder while the first projects get going.
If you have an idea, do not wait for the site to look finished. Get in touch.