A focus group to raise awareness in the South Asian community is being planned. The group had its planning meeting in Papatoetoe on July 14 and was organized by Nimmi Bedi, Community Advisor of the Manukau City Council and was chaired by the Ministry of Social Development’s Jenny Jannif.
This group is a subgroup of the Community Safety group which is a high level group led by Inspector Bruce Bird (Police) and Ian Maxwell (Director, Community Directorate Manukau City Council) The initial meeting was held in April this year.
“The main people to get on board are from the community itself, because this needs to be owned by them, so some discussions need to be held with them to get their input about a good pathway,” Mrs Bedi said.
“We need to be addressing things in different ways as it fits with their own ways of doing things, they would be able to look at what would work for them and then look towards possible support for this.
“Together we can make an effort to look at identifying champions within each community and also what is going on within these communities outside of Manukau so we can draw on their experiences and knowledge,” she added.
So far the participants have been community representatives from Indian, Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Pakistani, Fiji Indian, Burmese, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi communities. This is an initiative of the Community Advisory Services of Papatoetoe (Manukau City Council).
Several topics were discussed during the meeting including the role of the Family Violence Unit in raising awareness, narration of a true experience, the role that Neighbourhood Support can play and discussions on cultural appropriateness as well as strategies to raise awareness.
The major supporting agencies are Family Violence Unit of Counties Manukau Police, SAFVPN, Community & Family Services of the Ministry of Social Development, Problem Gambling Foundation, Family Safety Team, Counselling Services Papatoetoe, Manukau Ethnic Council, NZ Pakistani Association, Manukau Indian Association, Auckland Sikh Society, Punjabi Cultural association, Neighbourhood Support Papatoetoe, Fatima Foundation, Auckland Regional Migrant Services Manukau, Indian Weekender, Kuk Samachar, and South Asian Community Liaison officer from Counties Manukau police.
The group will meet again in September for furthering our objective of raising awareness.