Aussie funding boost for South Asian women refuge

By Lin Evlin | AUSTRALIA |

A refuge specifically for South Asian woman predominately from India is among one of 40 projects to receive a share of $60 million of federal government funding to help survivors of family and domestic violence.

Sahara House in Brisbane will receive more than $200,000 in the funding announced this week which forms part of the Safe Places package and comes under the government’s $340 million investment plan to reduce violence against women and their children.

Jatinder Kaur, the manager of Sahara House, said she cried “tears of joy” when she found out about the funding. It is the first time the service has received federal government support since it opened in 2017.

The shelter, which can currently house up to five women and children, will now be able to build another three-bedroom house, renovate a garage into a studio room, and finish a partially-donated tiny house on the site.

“It might not sound like a lot to some but for us, this is huge,” Ms Kaur told SBS News.

“It means we can double capacity, it means we don’t have to turn away the most vulnerable of women who have come to us. We have been at capacity in the last six months.”

Sahara House is run by a handful of volunteer social workers in an undisclosed location in Brisbane and caters specifically for women of South Asian background.

Read the full report, ‘Australia’s first domestic violence shelter for Indian-origin women given funding boost’ (SBS, 1 Oct 2020), here.

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