About AMEA

The Australian Middle Eastern Association (AMEA) is a not for profit organization which aims to use community resources and skills to help Arabic speaking refugees and immigrants settle into Australia by implementing a good connection between well-established families and new arrivals which is one of many techniques used for reducing depression and anxiety of new arrival families to empower new arrivals through social cohesion.

In the past five years, 11,526 new refugees, asylum seekers and migrants made the area of Fairfield LGA home in the (DSS data, March 2015). Of these 6,000 per year are Arabic speaking refugees. There are currently over 12,000 Arabic speaking migrants and refugees living in the Fairfield LGA and surrounds, with an expected more to come in 2018 as part of the Fairfield City Settlement Action Plan 2017.

Six Arabic speaking community members with first person refugee experience, began the Australian Middle Eastern Association (AMEA) — a multi-faith community designed to identify the gaps and help refugees with common challenges they face when settling in a new country.

From teaching refugees about accessing affordable housing, employment pathways, to navigating Centrelink, and understanding social norms and etiquette— AMEA endeavours to provide answers to many challenges facing new arrivals today and create a smooth transition into life in Australia.