The call reached the Student Union at Melbourne University and, over the next few months, the Program was established by Anna Grace Hopkins and Matthew Albert. At the outset there were five students (all from the one family) who came to the community hall for tutoring.
Unbeknownst to the founders, the Sudanese community was Australia’s and Victoria’s fastest growing ethnic community. Moreover, the location where SAIL was established and in which the Sudanese community have settled is, on the ABS’ Socio Economic Index for Areas (which uses a range of indicators to determine disadvantage), in the lowest area for socio-economic wealth in Australia. It is therefore unsurprising that, as word spread, the attendance of students increased.
2001
By early 2001 there were nearly 20 students. More tutors were sought and obtained through advertisement and word of mouth, and by mid 2001 the program had fifty students, twenty volunteer tutors and a name – the SAIL Program, and funding .
2002
In April 2002, the program expanded to include services for the adult members of the community. In August 2002, the Home Help began and SAIL began servicing the community in the week as well as on Saturdays. By 2002, the SAIL Program had 50 volunteer staff including librarians and administration assistants.
2003
2003 saw the growth of all aspects of the Program. In addition the SAIL Xtend Program, the SAIL Star and the SAIL Bursary Program were launched. SAIL Xtend offered the younger Sudanese SAILors access to a series of short courses designed to expose them to new areas of life in Australia which they may not have explored before. In 2003, the courses included Australian Sign Language, Art, Drama, Music and Cooking. The SAIL Star is a student newspaper written by and for the Sudanese SAIL students. The SAIL Bursary Program aims to provide funds to support the financial needs of SAIL students completing High School. This project was launched with the generous support of the Melbourne Anglican Foundation.
2004
In 2004 SAIL further expanded, with the introduction of a campus in Dandenong in addition to the original Footscray site. The following year saw still more growth, with the advent of SAIL Altona in April 2005.
2006
In 2006, SAIL Footscray, filled to bursting point, became two inner west campuses, SAIL Maidstone and SAIL Footscray. The following year saw the greatest development of SAIL, SAIL Dandenong becoming two smaller campuses; Dandenong Robinson and Dandenong Langhorne. Also, two brand new campuses set SAIL, SAIL Glengala in Sunshine and SAIL Seven Hills in Sydney.
2008
2008 saw the departure of founder Matthew Albert, who was replaced by former campus coordinators Nik Tan and Cara Morrissey.
2009
In 2009, SAIL grew to in excess of 1,000 SAILors and opened new campuses in three states around the country. A second Sydney campus, SAIL Blacktown was opened on August 1, the first campus across the nullabor opened in Perth on the day of SAIL’s original birthday, August 29, and SAIL Wyndham opened its doors with 10 students on the 10th day of the 10th month. It is SAIL’s 10th campus.
2010
In 2010, SAIL Altona celebrated its fifth birthday and set SAIL for the last time. Altona SAILors joined SAIL Wyndham further west.
2012
In 2012, Sophie Tolich was the overseeing coordinator of the Program, with Aidan Stephenson and Gemma O’Brien assisting to oversee the East and West campuses respectively.
2014
By 2014, SAIL had five campuses in Melbourne, two in Sydney and one in Perth. Lizzy Fitzgerald was the overseeing coordinator of the Program.
2015
The SAIL Program maintains a regular voluntary staff of giving people. These volunteers tutor, mentor, prepare lunch, maintain the library, administer the Program and assist the Sudanese community in any other way they can. The student numbers grow on a weekly basis. At the time of writing, SAIL had approximately 550 regular Sudanese attendees.
2018
As the SAIL Program continues to grow, we hope to expand to cater for the growing needs of a very deserving (and growing) community.