I am a twenty-nine year old lady of Bhutanese community of NT. I am  Nepali speaking Bhutan of Hindu culture. I have been in Darwin on 4th of March, 2009 with my husband and his brother. At the first sight of Darwin I was very much excited by seeing the friendly and helpful people even though I faced a little language problem. Later I become more disappointed with everything because I did not  understand much culture, system, laws, people and the government. I have now studied AMEP (Australian Migrants English Program) and I passed Certificate III.

As the time pass, Melaleuca Refugee Centre gave me lots of help and support and with that I was more motivated and visited different places like MCNT & DCA. From there I get lots of ideas and enjoyment, relief and satisfaction. I get lots of friends from the different countries, most of them are also from the refugee background and we share our feelings to each other. At Darwin Community Arts, there I get the special programme called My Sisters' Kitchen. It is a nice programme for not only me but all the people of Darwin Community, it gives the refreshment to the most worried people. This project is I think mainly for women. I think it is very interesting for all the community's people, some time men also come and participate which make the programme very interesting and beautiful.

On every Monday all the women are coming to My Sisters' Kitchen with the food and we cook and share recipes and our cultures with each other. Ladies from the Liberian, Somali, Burundi, Burmese, Chinese, Australian and Bhutanese communites all gather and share the food, dancing, singing and telling the stories and we are very happy with the friends we make and made. According to my opinion this is very, very important for the newly migrated refugee. When people arrived here they sometimes have lots of bad feelings and are lonely but when they get involved in My Sisters' Kitchen they will get enjoyment and refreshment and feel happier.

My Sisters' Kitchen starts at 2pm and ends at 5pm. Different women cook different food and express their feelings to each other in a group. This programme is run by Brenda (Australian lady) at Malak Shopping Centre. I am also a member of this programme and I loved it too much and I would like to welcome to all the women to come and enjoy with us and we are helping to them what we can do for them.

And at the last I would like to request Melaleuca to bring and introduce the newly migrated people to My Sisters' Kitchen. It would be the great way of relief and motivation for them. They could enjoy and can learn some things from it and from the Aussies so I highly request all newly migrants to participate in this programme to develop new ideas, friendship, and exchange different food culture as well. Thanks. Bhakti Mainaly