Darling Heights is a suburb of Toowoomba which welcomes and supports migrants and refugee families.
The local state school is one of the most ethnically diverse schools in Australia with over 40 languages spoken by the students, many of whom have come to Australia as refugees.
Classes are in English, but when the students go home, no one speaks English.
Ricky Adams is a teacher-aid and says this situation can be incredibly isolating for the students and their families, especially mothers who are often illiterate in their language.
The school runs English classes for all the family, and Ricky says this has a positive impact on parents and the students.
But English classes are just the tip of the iceberg. Ricky is proud of the Darling Heights Community Hub, which runs sewing, parenting, and gardening classes. There is a hub food bank and strong links with the local Men’s Shed. Other community groups provide volunteer and in-kind support.
Ricky tells the story of a woman she met one day who had very little English; her husband was ill, and she had to put him into care. The woman was isolated and did not know where to get support.
Ricky says within 20 minutes, she had the woman signed up for English, sewing, and parenting classes. Over time the woman gained more English and more confidence. She became part of the community and is now a supervisor of the sowing group and regularly donates food to the hub food bank to give to less well off families.
Ricky smiles as she tells this story and says it is an example of how the hub can empower people and positively uplift families.