We do a lot with a little. Help us to house and support asylum seekers and refugees in the Australian community.
URGENT REQUEST for donation of hand push mower and whipper snipper – Please contact Libby 8842 2691
News
Speaking Up For Refugees
Brigidine Sister Brigid Arthur csb, one of the founders of the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project, shares some of her long experience of working with asylum seekers. She has been led to believe that indefinite detention deprives such people of the chance to contribute...
BASP thanks the City of Port Phillip
BASP would like to thank the City of Port Phillip for their ongoing assistance to BASP and the asylum seekers BASP supports with their Community Meals Subsidy Program. This program has ensured that BASP has been able to provide a lot of food to individuals and...
Reflecting on this Refugee Week
This year Refugee Week has been swallowed by the disruption caused by COVID-19, and by the fracturing of society in the United States. In a world where people naturally turn inwards, those who seek protection from persecution receive little public attention or...
You can help
- provide hospitality and practical support for people seeking asylum
- actively network with like-minded individuals and groups who are working for justice for asylum seekers
- promote advocacy for the rights of people seeking asylum
- engage in education about asylum seekers’ issues
- donate or volunteer
About BASP
Staff
Brigid Arthur csb, Project Coordinator, is a Brigidine Sister with a long and passionate career as an educator. She has been described as ‘an octogenarian human rights advocate, protester and leader.’
(csb = Congregation of Sisters of Brigid)
Libby Saunders, Project Coordinator, is an experienced social worker who worked in disability and community care before joining BASP in 2014. Libby is mainly involved with housing and volunteers.
Volunteers, kindly support our everyday work with an extraordinary range of expertise and experience.
Aims
The Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project (BASP) is a Melbourne-based initiative of the Brigidine Sisters which aims to:
- Provide hospitality and practical support for people seeking asylum;
- Actively network with like-minded individuals and groups who are working for justice for asylum seekers;
- Promote advocacy for the rights of people seeking asylum;
- Engage in education about asylum seekers’ issues.
Volunteer
We have many volunteer opportunities e.g. volunteer for our Friendship through teaching English program, providing friendship and support to an asylum seeker family along with personalised assistance in everyday English. Help families settle in their Australian community by exploring local facilities and services together. Volunteers work in pairs, visiting an assigned family once a week for about an hour. Please contact us to help.
Be informed about asylum seekers in Australia
Authorised Travellers
Contrary to the images sometimes projected by government and the media, most asylum seekers arrive in Australia by air as authorised travellers.
Ordinary Human Beings
Asylum seekers are ordinary human beings with the same emotions and reactions that most of us would have in similar circumstances.
Persecution
They have been involved in persecution in their own countries that we find hard to imagine from the safety of this country.
I am helping a family from Chad to speak English. I feel good to know that my assistance helps a mother of five negotiate the daily shopping run. It’s been my privilege to come to know a caring and grateful new Australian family.
Brigid brought a toy helicopter to the detention centre so I could send a birthday present to my son in Sri Lanka. I haven’t seen him since he was a baby.
You accepted me unconditionally and you changed my life from sorrow to joy, from darkness to light and from no hope to hope.
You can help BASP
Contact us to assist, get involved, donate time, money, household goods or expertise.