Around twenty years ago, large numbers of people from Myanmar displaced by decades of ethnic and religious-based persecution commenced settling in the western Melbourne municipality of Wyndham.

VICSEG New Futures’ bicultural facilitator, Lulu De Rose (left), was one of them.

In the years that have followed, Supported Playgroups developed and facilitated by Lulu with VICSEG New Futures have delivered a full circle story of family and community transformation.

The experience has also transformed Lulu herself.

After arriving in Australia in January 2009, Lulu turned her attention to gaining a qualification, completing the CHC30121 Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care. It was this qualification that in 2011 opened the door to employment with VICSEG New Futures in Werribee.

“I started facilitating two playgroups. But then the numbers just kept growing. The funding as well. There was this increase in demand,” Lulu said.  

“People (started to) know more about the playgroups. Because word of mouth, they’re sharing with the friends to bring more of their friends, and that’s how we got more families. The numbers were growing so significantly that we saw there was a need, and particularly for the communities from Burma, and so we increased the number of playgroups,” she said.  

Wyndham by then was the epicentre of a rapidly growing diaspora from Myanmar, with increasing numbers of humanitarian arrivals settling in the region and, in turn, attracting families from other districts who had arrived earlier on.  

Adding complexity was the diversity of people from Myanmar itself, says Lulu.  

“In the Burmese community, we’re many different ethnic groups. We were Karen, Burmese, Chin, Kachen and Karenni. Our languages are very different too,” Lulu said.  

Lulu found the groups she was helping to establish and facilitate in Wyndam were fast becoming a lifeline to families struggling to adjust to a brand-new environment.  

“Because most of the families come from the non-English background, if they want any help, they don’t know where to go. So, when they come to our playgroup, we support them as much as we can,” Lulu said.  

“Sometimes they might bring a Centrelink letter or any letter they might bring because they don’t know who they’re going to ask to help explain to them, so they bring it to us. They don’t know when their children can go to kindergarten or school. So, they come to the playgroup and, you know, we invite the kindergarten enrolment leaders to come and talk to the families and then we help them with the form or the kinder transitions.”  

“Women’s health also. Because some of the mum, when they give birth, in here, it’s different. So, they (maternal and child health nurses) come and talk about how to look after themselves after they give birth, and what to expect as well,” she said. 

Regarding childbirth, VICSEG’s Western programs and Werribee campus manager, Karen Diacono (right), says the information provided to expecting mothers in Lulu’s supported playgroups has helped improve the birthing experiences of countless women in the Wyndham area.  

“So much of it is about expectations,” Karen said.  

“Earlier on, we found a lot of women (from Myanmar) were shocked when they were giving birth in our Australian hospitals. It’s the clinical kind of experience. For some women, the experience was traumatic.”  

“Like when they were giving birth in a village or a refugee camp, they were surrounded by support. But now (here), it’s like they had to do exactly whatever the nurses in the hospital were telling them to do. And the nurses didn’t understand the cultural aspect of what they traditionally did. That was a big thing as well,” she said.  

The invaluable information and linkages Lulu was extending to women and children soon attracted the interest of dads too.  

“Women started bringing their husbands in as well for help,” Karen said.  

“Because their husbands needed help for various things, and so they’d say to their husbands, ‘Come to the playgroup. Lulu is there. Lulu can help you. Ask Lulu!’” 

“And so, she was doing everything!”, Karen said.  

“With the support of Karen,” Lulu laughs.  

With the passing of time, Lulu has witnessed how the power of playgroups can transform entire communities - one family at a time.  

“The young mums in the community now, they’ve been here longer. They got to go to high school here. Sometimes they still struggle, and they still come to our playgroups. But they have more confidence. They have the confidence to do things by themselves,” Lulu said.  

“We also (have had) lots of families from the playgroup come in and study with us here. So, we have a close relationship with New Futures Training,” she said.  

“The playgroup families are a really big source of enrolments for the Werribee branch at VICSEG New Futures,” Karen adds.  

“This includes ECEC (early childhood education and care), but also health services and individual support. You can see the direct links. And it’s not just the playgroup parent. It’s the playgroup parent’s sister, brother, neighbour, friend. You can have up to six people who are studying with us, all through this one playgroup parent. That’s how valuable the playgroups in Wyndham are to the Werribee branch,” Karen said.  

An outcome of this is that many women have travelled the full circle with supported playgroups, now mentoring families in their communities through the very same program that had earlier supported them!  

“We had a playgroup facilitator meeting late last year and Aditi (a VICSEG early childhood trainer) was in the room doing something. And then we all had a bit of a laugh because Aditi said, ‘Oh wow, I’ve trained most of the women in this room’. And then I said to them, ‘Who here had Aditi as your trainer?’ And they all put their hands up! And you could just see it – now they are facilitators working for the same organisation that they were trained at. It’s so great!”, Karen said.  

Lulu herself has walked a path of ongoing growth and personal transformation. She has furthered her education while working with VICSEG, completing the CHC50121 Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care with New Futures Training in Werribee. With this, Lulu’s work now sees her mentor the next generation of playgroup facilitators while also mentoring students as the Student Success Manager for Werribee campus.  

“Quite a few of the mums who have been in our playgroups who are interested in studying early childhood education have gone on to gain a qualification, and some of them are now the playgroup facilitators for VICSEG. And Lulu has mentored them. Given them that confidence. She’s providing this additional layer of support to her community. She’s empowering them to be leaders,” Karen said. 

“Her work is now about capacity building in the community, and her work has merged into something more like a coordinator that a playgroup facilitator”.  

Lulu has come a long way since the day she was interviewed by Karen Thompson (former VICSEG staff) and Karen Diacono fifteen years ago.  

“I still remember that day,” Lulu said.  

“Two Karens interviewed a Karen”, she laughs.  

Karen Diacono laughs.  

“I remember it too,” Karen said.  

“She was just so gorgeous, just so young! We’d ask her a question, and she’d just giggle. And now she’s grown into this confident woman. It’s just so great!”, she said.  

“I didn’t know what to say because I wasn’t good at speaking (English) then. Every time I’d go to an interview, I’d be worried, scared. I didn’t know what to say, I’d just keep smiling and giggle, like ‘he-he-he-he’!”, Lulu said.  

“But now look at her,” Karen interjects. “And we have so much fun together. We’re used to each other’s working styles,” Karen said.  

“And I’m still learning,” Lulu said.  

“It never stops”.