Vol 23 - Dec 2009
A letter from the Coordinator...
On the 13th February, our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offered a formal apology to the Indigenous People of Australia in these words:
"We apologise for the laws ans policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians." The apology was a long time coming - over two hundred years.
On the 16th November 2009, Mr Rudd and the Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull opologised to 500,000 'forgotten Australians' and former child migrants who grew up facing deprivation and exploitation in orphanages and homes. The child migrant scheme ran from the 1920s until the late 1960s, and saw white working class children sent away from Britain to help populate her former colonies, such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Many were taken from their families with the promise of a better life, only to end up in orphanages and institutions, where many of them were phusically and sexually abused, or made to work as farm labourers.
The apology by Mr Rudd and Mr Turnbull was not only commendable but also a long time coming.
As I begin to write what will be my last editorial as Coordinator of the House of Welcome my question is: How long will it take for an official apology to be offered to those refugees or asylum seekers who have come to Australia in recent years, risking their lives on fragile boats, seeking a safe haven from persecution, only to be further traumatised on arrival?
Many were locked up in desert camps or isolated Pacific islands or forced into a life of uncertainty on Temporary Protection Visas (TPV), some for as long as six or seven years.
I believe the answer to that question will also be a long time coming if it is ever offered. So as I say goodbye. I want to do three things:
Firstly, I wish to say sorry. Sorry to all those who spent many months, even years in Australia's detention camps, especially the children who witnessed terrible acts of self-hamrm and in some cases, immitated those acts. In 2002, I had the opportunity of visiting most of the camps including Christmas Island, Nauru and Woomaera. I stayed three days on each of the islands and found that to be too long - I can only imagine what it miust have been like to live on these desolate relentlessly hot and humid islands, not knowing who or if another country would offer asylum.
The long term psychological damage to those kept in these camps for mote than six months has been well documented by independent and highly respected psycharists. For many, the damage will be for life.
As I write these words, I think of one long time friend and client of the House of Welcome who, as one example, explains all that was bad and mean about the treatment of many asylum seekers by Australia.
Mr Z, as we will call him, was born in Iraq of Afghan parents and raised in Syria. He arrived in Australia in 1999 aged 23. He was a man without a country - a stateless person. So we punished hime for something he was not responsible for.
He was held in detention for four years, first in Woomera and then in Villawood. In April 2003, he along with a few others was released from detention by a High Court order. However he remained an unlawful non-citizen with no work rights, no access Centrelink, no Medicare, no nothing and had to report to the Department of Immigration or the Police, in person on weekdays and electronically on weekends.
In April 2004, he was given a certificate of identity. On that day, he began to exist! The following year, he was given a TPV and in 2007, he received a Permenent Proctection Visa. In June this year, he received a letter to inform him that his application for citizenship was approved. Finally, after all those years of waiting and quiet dignity, he became a citizen of Australia in September 20009. He is now 33, ten years of the most productive years of his life lost. He hopes to see his family soon for the first time after such a long separation.
So as a Australian citizen, I apologise for the profound suffering and loss we as a nation have inflicted on Mr Z and all those who sought safety here and were punished for doing so by being detained in camps or forced to wait in th limbo of TPVs. The sad irony of this is that most are now Australian citizens.
Secondly, I wish to express my thanks to all those who have come to the House of Welcome during my seven and a half years as Coordinator. It has been both a privillege and a blessing to work with you and for you and become friends.
I have been deeply moved and often deeply saddened by the stories of loss, suffering, torture and separation that many of you have experienced, and shared with such trust, disarming honesty and extraordinary resignation. I have also been heartened by your resilience and your capacity to begin a new life in a foreign land as you struggle to learn a new language and understand life as it is lived 'Down Under'.
From 1979 to 1985, I was responsible for a Vietnamese Refugee Camp in Japan. Like many of you, they were former 'boat people' and I learnt so much from them as I have from you. I promised my Vietnamese friends that once it was safe to travel to Vietnam, I would do so in the hope of gaining a better understanding of their culture and their way of life. Since then, I have been able to visit Vietnam three times, and I treasure those visits and the meetings with relatives and friends of those who had lived in my camp.
It is my hope that when peace comes to your country, I will be able to do the same and learn about your culture and way of life. There is no substitute for a personal lived experience and to meet people in their own land. For this wish to come true, peace will need to arrive soon, otherwise I will be too old to travel.
Thirdly, I wish to offer on your behalf heartfelt gratitude to all those who made the House of Welcome what it is today - a place of welcome, a place of trust, a place of sharing, a place of support and a place of hope.
The House of Welcome was the initiative of a small group of Christians who, conscious of the needs of refugees being released on Temporary Protection Visas in 2002, responded to the Gospel invitation to "welcome the stranger".
Since that time, the House of Welcome has been brilliantly served by a group of quite extraordinary volunteers who are described as the 'heart of the enterprise'. Sharing the same passion, the volunteers have provided practical and encouraging support to our clients and our dedicated staff.
Speaking of staff, I offer to all those who since the very beginning have worked here on staff, my gratitude for their untiring commitment to the mission of the House of Welcome and for their skills and competence. I offer my abiding admiration for their willingness to walk extra mile in times of special circumstances and unexpected crises.
There is another group most of you have never met but whose help has been critical for our survival. They are our donors. This group includes a wide ranfe of people: charitable foundations, parishes, religous groups, elderly pensioners, Bishops, friends and the famous Bridge for Asylum Seekers Foundation led by the irrepressible, dynamic and indomitable Virginia Walker and her committee.
For more than eight years, the generous donations of these groups and individuals have made it possible for the House of Welcome to offer a wide range of assistance, services and trasitional housing. We hopw and pray that their generosity will continue next year and for as long as there is a need for the ministry of the House of Welcome.
Finally, I would like to formally introduce to you our new Assistant Manager. Her name is Catherine Rothery. She started in September 2009 and has been on a fast learning track ever since and is eager to make your acquaintance. The new manager has not yet been chosen. As soon as we know who the perspon is, we will inform you.
And so with fond memories and sadness, I bid you farewell and blessings.
With warm regards,
JIM CARTY
Coordinator
PS. The Annual Premier's Spelling Bee was held on the 18th November. The winner in the senior's division was Elizabeth Hsu. Her parents are from Taiwan and her first language is Mandarin; the winner of the junior's division was Lian Yang, also a Southeast Asian name. The names tell the story: with hard work and diligence, all thinfs are possible in Australia - no matter where you came from. So in spite of all the obstacles and difficulties you have faced since arriving here, my last request to you is: grasp all the opportunities offered you in your new country in order to achieve your full potential as a person and as an Australian citizen. (Also, please note that both winners were girls!!)
"We apologise for the laws ans policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians." The apology was a long time coming - over two hundred years.
On the 16th November 2009, Mr Rudd and the Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull opologised to 500,000 'forgotten Australians' and former child migrants who grew up facing deprivation and exploitation in orphanages and homes. The child migrant scheme ran from the 1920s until the late 1960s, and saw white working class children sent away from Britain to help populate her former colonies, such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Many were taken from their families with the promise of a better life, only to end up in orphanages and institutions, where many of them were phusically and sexually abused, or made to work as farm labourers.
The apology by Mr Rudd and Mr Turnbull was not only commendable but also a long time coming.
As I begin to write what will be my last editorial as Coordinator of the House of Welcome my question is: How long will it take for an official apology to be offered to those refugees or asylum seekers who have come to Australia in recent years, risking their lives on fragile boats, seeking a safe haven from persecution, only to be further traumatised on arrival?
Many were locked up in desert camps or isolated Pacific islands or forced into a life of uncertainty on Temporary Protection Visas (TPV), some for as long as six or seven years.
I believe the answer to that question will also be a long time coming if it is ever offered. So as I say goodbye. I want to do three things:
Firstly, I wish to say sorry. Sorry to all those who spent many months, even years in Australia's detention camps, especially the children who witnessed terrible acts of self-hamrm and in some cases, immitated those acts. In 2002, I had the opportunity of visiting most of the camps including Christmas Island, Nauru and Woomaera. I stayed three days on each of the islands and found that to be too long - I can only imagine what it miust have been like to live on these desolate relentlessly hot and humid islands, not knowing who or if another country would offer asylum.
The long term psychological damage to those kept in these camps for mote than six months has been well documented by independent and highly respected psycharists. For many, the damage will be for life.
As I write these words, I think of one long time friend and client of the House of Welcome who, as one example, explains all that was bad and mean about the treatment of many asylum seekers by Australia.
Mr Z, as we will call him, was born in Iraq of Afghan parents and raised in Syria. He arrived in Australia in 1999 aged 23. He was a man without a country - a stateless person. So we punished hime for something he was not responsible for.
He was held in detention for four years, first in Woomera and then in Villawood. In April 2003, he along with a few others was released from detention by a High Court order. However he remained an unlawful non-citizen with no work rights, no access Centrelink, no Medicare, no nothing and had to report to the Department of Immigration or the Police, in person on weekdays and electronically on weekends.
In April 2004, he was given a certificate of identity. On that day, he began to exist! The following year, he was given a TPV and in 2007, he received a Permenent Proctection Visa. In June this year, he received a letter to inform him that his application for citizenship was approved. Finally, after all those years of waiting and quiet dignity, he became a citizen of Australia in September 20009. He is now 33, ten years of the most productive years of his life lost. He hopes to see his family soon for the first time after such a long separation.
So as a Australian citizen, I apologise for the profound suffering and loss we as a nation have inflicted on Mr Z and all those who sought safety here and were punished for doing so by being detained in camps or forced to wait in th limbo of TPVs. The sad irony of this is that most are now Australian citizens.
Secondly, I wish to express my thanks to all those who have come to the House of Welcome during my seven and a half years as Coordinator. It has been both a privillege and a blessing to work with you and for you and become friends.
I have been deeply moved and often deeply saddened by the stories of loss, suffering, torture and separation that many of you have experienced, and shared with such trust, disarming honesty and extraordinary resignation. I have also been heartened by your resilience and your capacity to begin a new life in a foreign land as you struggle to learn a new language and understand life as it is lived 'Down Under'.
From 1979 to 1985, I was responsible for a Vietnamese Refugee Camp in Japan. Like many of you, they were former 'boat people' and I learnt so much from them as I have from you. I promised my Vietnamese friends that once it was safe to travel to Vietnam, I would do so in the hope of gaining a better understanding of their culture and their way of life. Since then, I have been able to visit Vietnam three times, and I treasure those visits and the meetings with relatives and friends of those who had lived in my camp.
It is my hope that when peace comes to your country, I will be able to do the same and learn about your culture and way of life. There is no substitute for a personal lived experience and to meet people in their own land. For this wish to come true, peace will need to arrive soon, otherwise I will be too old to travel.
Thirdly, I wish to offer on your behalf heartfelt gratitude to all those who made the House of Welcome what it is today - a place of welcome, a place of trust, a place of sharing, a place of support and a place of hope.
The House of Welcome was the initiative of a small group of Christians who, conscious of the needs of refugees being released on Temporary Protection Visas in 2002, responded to the Gospel invitation to "welcome the stranger".
Since that time, the House of Welcome has been brilliantly served by a group of quite extraordinary volunteers who are described as the 'heart of the enterprise'. Sharing the same passion, the volunteers have provided practical and encouraging support to our clients and our dedicated staff.
Speaking of staff, I offer to all those who since the very beginning have worked here on staff, my gratitude for their untiring commitment to the mission of the House of Welcome and for their skills and competence. I offer my abiding admiration for their willingness to walk extra mile in times of special circumstances and unexpected crises.
There is another group most of you have never met but whose help has been critical for our survival. They are our donors. This group includes a wide ranfe of people: charitable foundations, parishes, religous groups, elderly pensioners, Bishops, friends and the famous Bridge for Asylum Seekers Foundation led by the irrepressible, dynamic and indomitable Virginia Walker and her committee.
For more than eight years, the generous donations of these groups and individuals have made it possible for the House of Welcome to offer a wide range of assistance, services and trasitional housing. We hopw and pray that their generosity will continue next year and for as long as there is a need for the ministry of the House of Welcome.
Finally, I would like to formally introduce to you our new Assistant Manager. Her name is Catherine Rothery. She started in September 2009 and has been on a fast learning track ever since and is eager to make your acquaintance. The new manager has not yet been chosen. As soon as we know who the perspon is, we will inform you.
And so with fond memories and sadness, I bid you farewell and blessings.
With warm regards,
JIM CARTY
Coordinator
PS. The Annual Premier's Spelling Bee was held on the 18th November. The winner in the senior's division was Elizabeth Hsu. Her parents are from Taiwan and her first language is Mandarin; the winner of the junior's division was Lian Yang, also a Southeast Asian name. The names tell the story: with hard work and diligence, all thinfs are possible in Australia - no matter where you came from. So in spite of all the obstacles and difficulties you have faced since arriving here, my last request to you is: grasp all the opportunities offered you in your new country in order to achieve your full potential as a person and as an Australian citizen. (Also, please note that both winners were girls!!)
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