Blogging on #FashionEducation and Slow Fashion

What You Can do to Help - Flemington, North Melbourne Housing Commission Lockdown

6/7/2020

If you're reading this then you are angry, curious, and feel a significant piece of injustice is happening right now to our brothers and sisters in housing communities in Flemington, Kensington and North Melbourne.

120 Racecourse Road, Flemington. Image is copyright.

I've scoured ways to help because I personally feel the State Government has gone about this is a MAJORLY wrong way. I won't go into the details, because if you're here then you've an inkling of how f***ed up this situation can be, if they keep going this way.

As I'm writing this (Monday morning, 6 July), these are the things that have gone through my head:

Who are the cleaning contractors for Melbourne's public housing? (Is it still GJK? And assisted in scope by ISS Facility Services?) I believe the contracts were extended in scope at the start of the State of Emergency declaration for Victoria back in March. I see 'cleaning casuals' in groups of four everywhere on CBD streets and south-eastern suburbs streets (where I currently live.) My brother lives in Flemington and I'm not sure the streets were afforded the same cleaning treatment. The question is, the cleaning contracts for the housing estates are very lucrative -- what have they done since March with ensuring extended hygiene measures??
Before announcing a #lockdown or a change of rules altogether, people normally get a bit of notice -- at least 24 hours, FFS! To stock on food, medicine, and other home and health supplies. Various interviews and news outlets have clearly demonstrated that the first that anyone had ever heard of the plans to shut Flemington flats down, as well as restrict the other flats in the area -- was when Premier Andrews went live on TV on Saturday 4 July. This includes both sides of the 'fence': the residents and the enforcers, and the ones in between: the support people, the NGOs, the community associations and peak bodies, the health practitioners came in later. Premier Andrews hasn't been a complete idiot in managing crises, and he's done OK with serving the needs of migrant and underprivileged communities, so why this, now? Why all the police, the NO-PLAN plan, the knee-jerk reaction? What's changed? Is there pressure from others? Am I missing something here? I don't wish to be speculative but seriously, his execution style on this particular second wave of #covid infections has been far from compassionate and thoughtful. The reason I say this is because we're only just freshly digesting the #BLM events and I really, really, wished that Andrews had done this a bit more differently. No one is arguing there is no need for a stricter lockdown in cluster communities, but come on. Really? NGOs are not even allowed to send in care packages and food! (see screenshot below by Flemington Community Food Program.)
How do we plan to go forth with this sh*tshow of a containment/detention plan? I'd be very careful, thorough, thoughful, and a bit more compassionate. During March through to June, Malaysians weren't able to even go outside for any reason (unless exempt), and only one person in the household was allowed to go grocery shopping. If you were living in high-rise apartments or condominiums, people were allowed exercise along the corridors and shared spaces and whatnot with restrictions on times, etc. The highways and roads had police presence in terms of movements from one suburb to another, if you like, and now, after 100 or so days, people can finally go out and socialise and do sports and attend gatherings and dine-in at restaurants (albeit with social distancing measures and compulsory mask-wearing imposed.). This is only one example, and even this type of lockdown is still more humane than what is happening in Flemington right now. Premier Andrews, please, please, get some pointers on how to go about this the right way.

List of resources as of noon, Monday 6 July of active help and assistance

Watch this video, please. Fresh off the press, with residents in two towers speaking on first-hand experience: one Flemington, one North Melbourne. Adam Bandt, Federal MP for Melbourne and Ellen Sandell, State MP for #Melbourne also make an appearance. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCQXr8ipTVJ/?hl=en

Flemington Community Food Program, a Flemington-based NGO that has been around in the community for a number of years. Unfortunately these guys can't access the flats, but you can still donate food.
North Melbourne-based AMSSA (Australian Muslim Social Services Agency) is asking for donations of PPE equipment (masks, gloves, hand sanitiser), food (preferably uncooked), baby products (nappies, wipes, baby formula, baby food), sanitary pads, medication (Panadol, Nurofen, Ventolin inhalers) and toilet paper. You can drop off your donations at AMSSA Centre at 91-101 Boundary Road in North Melbourne. For more information (and drop off times) head to their Facebook and Instagram pages.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre has teamed up with the Victorian Trades Hall Council to help families in lockdown. The centre’s catering social enterprise ASRC Catering will be delivering thousands of meals to the towers alongside the Moving Feast network emergency response. Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO of the ASRC, has said the meals will be “culturally inclusive, appropriate and nutritious,” and be something “these communities deserve.” You can support the ASRC anytime by donating funds or supplies here.
There’s also the option to donate to a fundraiser set up by Victorian Trades Hall Council who will be donating 100 per cent of the funds to the residents. The council announced on its Facebook page that the funds will be disbursed “in consultation with the Victorian Multicultural Commission, community groups and residents, and their representative associations and in consultation with community services support, and the government.”
You can also donate to Foodbank Victoria, who are delivering food and personal care hampers to those in the towers. As of Sunday, July 5, the organisation has delivered 1600 hampers to the families in hard lockdown.

For live updates on people who are mobilising support and actively engaging politicians and the like

I will update this page every day or so, anytime I feel there are more resources worth sharing. Stay safe, and stay sane, everyone. Look after each other please.

Love, Najah xx

#covid19 #healthcrisis #melbourneloackdown #blacklivesmatter #pandemic #plandemic #auspol #SpringSt #covidvic #humanrights #discrimination #socialinequity #socialjustice #socialaid

0 Comments

Krabi and self-actualisation. Yeah, it happened.

5/5/2018

0 Comments

Happy in Krabi, Thailand, April 2017

This time last year, I decided I was going to do something about my impact in the world as an individual and end my suffering at my office job.

895 words; 4.5 min read

In between seeing my grandma in Kuala Lumpur and hearing about her woes about her children's plan to sell her house and conversations about business with a special friend in my life in Krabi (who flew all the way from Turkey), I made the decision.

I made the decision to quit my full-time job that paid me a six-figure salary but didn't give me the joy and fulfilment I was seeking.

The climax to this story was how I felt the day I handed in my resignation letter. It was pure bliss. Excitement! CLARITY. I had so much clarity! Suddenly, I was able to zoom in on my imaginary roadmap. I had experienced a joy that was so – oddly enough – centred, just because I had taken that step.

By August 2017, I had already packed up all my things (fully furnished two-bedroom apartment) and organised them to be stored in a storage unit. I didn't know what the future held for me at this point, but originally had planned to stay with grandma in KL for two months. During the two months, I confirmed that this was a path laid out for me, and that I was going to pursue my dreams, to make them come true.

My dream is to really touch people's lives and leave a positive legacy for the Planet.

Fast-forward to December 2017, I am now settled in KL (for now), with nothing but 15 boxes of clothes and belongings and my slick roadbike.. and a very comfy raw hide Italian leather sofa.

I didn't think my reach was wide enough working in a corporate setting. In Krabi, somewhere between riding on the back of a 120 cc scooter whizzing through villages in the clean, fresh air and reaching the summit of the Tiger Cave Temple after 1,260 steps, I reached a self-actualisation moment. I must say, out of all the 'holiday' trips that I've been on all over the world, Krabi changed my life. I wasn't phased about the world around me. I concentrated on myself. It was the one trip where I paused for many idle moments. It rained on the beach one day, after our swim, we – I – just sat there, watching the waves crash. Listening to the rain and its powerful force for reflection. Feeling the mist of water bolstered by the wind that moistened my face. Writing this now I'm transported back to that moment. My eyes are swelling up with tears of gratitude.

I am so glad April 2017 happened. It was a turning point in my life.

Retrospection is a great thing. Quitting my job to give this endeavour a shot full-time was the best thing I ever did, since the last great thing that happened to me – migrating to Australia as a 17-year-old high school graduate.

Yes, other things had happened. I had a difficult long-term relationship with my ex with whom I wanted to still have a relationship with – as friends, but that didn't end well. (Stalking was involved in a major way.) I made a bad decision to then enter into a new relationship that moved very quickly, and as a consequence I became someone's life coach and had acquired a pet dog quite early on.

I had thought about environmental engineering and fashion since 2014, and since 2016 had been inspired to put more effort into what I thought was going to be my calling. But managing a full-on job with five days of sports and recreation, caring for a home, looking after myself, volunteering and being a support system for my family, I failed to reach an orderly system of focused thoughts.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my job and the people I worked with, I was a trusted professional who could get anything done (most times overworked), but was not a fan of so-called management at the place. In the midst of the chaos that was that job, I was proud that I had built my role from scratch and had sustained its relevance to the organisation. (In times of economic regression, it's not uncommon that people like me are seen as overheads.) I love Perth, my home this last 5 and a half years. I love Willow, and miss her dearly, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy that I had to part ways with.

But it was time for action. Everything in life that I've ever learned had led me to this moment. I'm still defining my being, but 12 months ago, I decided to really commandeer how that story evolves.

Thank you, Krabi. I will always remember you. Thank you Mustafa, for opening my eyes to a world of possibilities. Thank you, world, for being kind to me. Thank you family, friends, acquaintances and complete strangers, for showing me so much love. I have received an enormous amount of it to keep me going for a while.

Krabi and I haven't finished creating memories together just yet. And I'm not afraid of multiple climaxes.

Join us in our Slow Fashion movement with the hashtag #ConscientiousFashionista and #wardrobetruths on Instagram, and follow us at @fashinfidelity.

Tags: #selfactualisation #conscientiousfashionista #fastfashion #slowfashion #ethicalfashion #ecofashion #sustainablefashion #greenfashion #sustainability #wardrobetruths #fashioneducation #fashionisnolongertrendy #fashion #wardrobetruths #saynotofastfashion #kualalumpur #krabi #malaysia #thailand

0 Comments

A bit of Fashion Education

What You Can do to Help - Flemington, North Melbourne Housing Commission Lockdown

Krabi and self-actualisation. Yeah, it happened.

#FashionEducation

Archives

Categories

Resources

Read more..