A social phenomenon unfolded within the Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council's Welcome Centre on Saturday afternoon.
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Between 1pm and 3.30pm, people of South Sudanese, Malay, Italian, and numerous other backgrounds descended on a COVID-19 pop-up vaccination hub, a site exclusively for members of the town's multicultural community.
Vaccination spots had been booked out well in advance, illustrating the migrant population's commitment to protect the region.
Here, those of vastly different origins were working together to help society, stepping up to get vaccinated. For BRMC community engagement team leader Hee Young Lim, formerly of South Korea, the thinking behind the scheme was clear.
"When we work together, we have power," Ms Lim said.
The 'Care and Information Exchange Program' is part of the Victorian government's priority response to multicultural communities. The focus includes food relief and promoting safe and effective COVID-19 vaccination. Saturday's vaccination hub was a culmination of much effort.
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Kodjo Lunorphare Folly, born in the West African nation of Benin, had been hard at work educating local Africans in the lead-up.
"Not only are we promoting getting vaccinated, we've also been supporting community members with translated information, one-on-one support, and food relief," Mr Folly said.
"A lot of the multicultural community needs extra support. We try to support people as much as possible."
Mr Folly encountered some reluctance about vaccination from different groups, but he was pleased the public health message was now getting through.
"Even if you give them the correct information, it does not always mean they are going to take it in," Mr Folly said.
"Most of the multicultural community that don't want to get vaccinated are more so for religious reasons. (Also), some do feel they don't want to put unnatural stuff in their body. We've changed a lot of people's minds, me being one of them."
Abdul Rasuli, from Afghanistan and another community engagement worker, believes there initially had been fear of vaccinations within the Hazara community.
"There's some fear because of safety of the vaccine, the blood clot, this stuff," Mr Rasuli said. "Negative stuff comes from media. It's concerning them."
According to Mr Rasuli, a further obstacle facing many Hazara people had been the appointment process.
"Some of them didn't want to get vaccinated because it's complicated," he said.
"They don't know how to book in."
However, Mr Rasuli has confidence in the work of the engagement program, indicating it is helping his people. His role has involved assisting Hazara make bookings and then maintaining involvement with them up to the time of the needle.
"Today, I called them to come here. Otherwise, they would never go to get vaccinated," Mr Rasuli said. "Some work nightshift so I call them: 'You have to come now'. I'm holding their hand, bringing them here. For a diverse community, these kind of programs that we have is very good because they are missing so many things because of the language barrier."
Abrar Dham, originally from Kuwait, successfully disseminated information on COVID-19 and vaccination amongst the female Muslim community.
"Once we had the vaccination hub, I straight away let the people know in my community through social media," Ms Dham said.
"The first two days, 90% of the people (who booked) were from the Muslim community. It's been a great response. They wanted to book themselves in because, at some point, they want to travel back home and visit their family; they're caring for their parents or grandparents here; they want to be able to visit their family again. So everyone has been very into it."
In addition to the BRMC's current work addressing the pandemic, it has come up with the idea of the 'COVID-19 Multicultural Community Champion Network' to be launched in September.
Individuals are invited to register to become a multicultural community champion. Any person who becomes a champion will work with the BRMC to share useful pandemic information with friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, and community groups.
The importance of unity remains at the forefront of Ms Lim's mind.
"We thought if we work together, we can have a safe Ballarat again," she said.
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