Space2b VIP Dinner at St Ali
with Human Rights Advocate Julian Burnside and comedian, Judith Lucy
__________________
Thursday 10th August
7 pm - 10.30 pm
12-18 Yarra Pl, South Melbourne
_________________
Salvatore Malatesta from well known café, St Ali in South Melbourne has become a mentor to Space2b, supporting us with the soon to be, laneway café, his valuable advice and 2 years of coffee beans! Salvatore has also offered his café, for this special dinner to support Space2b in our crowd-funding campaign, ‘Help us Build our Space2b’
Julian Burnside and Judith Lucy will also support Space2b for the night. The event will help to raise the $50,000 we so desperately need to build a laneway café and upgrade our training room. 'The café will make Space2b financially sustainable, which will allow us to do what we do best - support refugees; asylum seekers and new migrants with their creative endeavours and ultimately support them too, to become financially independent. This much needed funding will mean we can more than double the amount of people we support and spend more time on our programs rather than spending time seeking funding.'
Chefs from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and The Congo will be sharing their special recipes from home to create a delightful 3 course dinner. The three chefs feature in the book ‘Every Bite Takes You Home', which invites us to share in the journeys of sixteen remarkable asylum seekers who have found a home in Australia.
Judith Lucy
Since 1995 Judith Lucy has been performing shows - all of them have been utterly, achingly, funny - no one sees just one Judith Lucy show. She's the best-selling author of two devastatingly honest, hilarious books and created two of her own ABC series Judith Lucy's Spiritual Journey and Judith Lucy Is All Woman both of which were nominated for Best Light Entertainment series at the AACTA awards. So basically she is really funny.
Julian Burnside
AO QC Australian Barrister, Human Rights Advocate and Author, Julian Burnside is passionate for the rights of Asylum Seekers and Refugees. His prestigious Order of Australia was awarded “for service as a human rights advocate, particularly for refugees and asylum seekers, to the arts as a patron and fundraiser, and to the law”.
Salvatore Malatesta
Salvatore Malatesta owner of St Ali Cafe, which he grew into the ST. ALi Family, Melbourne’s front running specialty coffee conglomerate, roastery, education centre, online store and retail outlet, 'Sensory Lab'.
Salvatore has become a mentor to Space2b, supporting the soon to be, laneway café, advisory staff, and two years of coffee beans! Salvatore has graciously opened the St. Ali venue and provided staff for this amazing evening - Thank You!
YOUR CHEFS FOR THE NIGHT
Every Bite Takes you Home
Abshiro Farah, Desh Balasubramaniam, Aquila Ahmadi and Liaquat Ali from Somalia ,
Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will be sharing their special recipes from home to create a delightful three course dinner. All four chefs are featured in the book Every Bite Takes You Home, which invites us to share in the journeys of sixteen remarkable asylum seekers who have found a home in Australia.
Desh Balasubramaniam
Desh Balasubramaniam was born in Sri Lanka and moved with his family at age thirteen to New Zealand. He now lives and works in Melbourne. He founded Ondru in his backyard, an arts organisation committed to provoking thought and evoking change through art. Ondru is a Tamil word meaning ‘one, equality or become one with’.
Abshiro farah
Abshiro, originally from Somalia, is a mother of three . Having trained and worked in childhood education Abshiro now volunteers her time to support African women and families in Melbourne with The New Hope Foundation. Abshiro is also an amazing cook and runs 'Cook for culture ‘ Food classes while she studies Community Service in Holmesglen College.
Liaquat Ali
Among Dandenong’s Afghan community, Liaquat is known for his food. ‘My friends ring and ask me to cook for them.’ Before coming to Australia three years ago, Liaquat was a chef at a busy Afghan restaurant in Quetta, Pakistan. In recent years, war has displaced many Afghans, the majority into neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. Liaquat’s wife and seven children are still in Quetta.
Aquila Ahmadi
Aquila and her husband Korban’s are from Afghanistan. Their journey to Australia was a long and arduous one, beginning from their home in Bamiyan, where they lived with their four children. Bamiyan is the largest town in the Hazarajat region, but Aquiala and her family were forced to fllee when the Taliban gained control.
Thank you to our sponsors for the night
