Gurminder Singh says Sikhs who come to the area on regional working visas often stay. Source: SBS/Abby Dinham
By Abby Dinham | SBS | Australia |
In the early hours of Sunday morning, in the small confines of a garage in a rented house in the northern suburbs of Albury, New South Wales, a cooking production line has formed.
Three large burners are on the floor, men squatting next to them drop handfuls of chopped vegetables bound by a chickpea flour batter into sizzling pots of oil, while a row of women slap and roll balls of naan dough to be fried on a barbeque.
These are the members of the Albury-Wodonga Sikh Sangat, or congregation, at their Gurdwara (place of worship). They’re preparing Langar – a free meal to worshippers and anyone else who stops by.
During the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, the food production went into overdrive, with the Sangat cooking up to 200 meals a day to give to local charities.
This Sangat began with a handful of families 15 years ago. One of its original members, Supreet Arora, who migrated from India in 2007, says it’s now bursting at the seams.
“In 2011-12 the government opened visas for students to come to this area to get their permanent residency, so they have to live here for three years, so many people came and then the community just blasted I would say, just blasted,” she said.
An estimated 1,500 Sikhs live in the vicinity of the Albury-Wodonga Gurdwara. The religion is still considered a minority faith in Australia, but since 2011 has been the fastest-growing, predominantly due to migration.
People arriving from overseas on skilled work regional visas are required to stay in regional Australia for several years and are then free to move to a capital city.
But the president of the Albury Wodonga Sikh Organisation, Gurminder Singh, says once people experience life in the border region, many choose to stay.
“If you live here for several years I don’t think someone would make a plan to go back somewhere because after that we consider we are a local, ” Mr Singh said.
Read the full story, ‘The growing Sikh community looking for a permanent home on the NSW-Victoria border’ (SBS, 2 Jan 2022), here.
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