Student reflections

Last week, a contingent of our Year 11 students attended Refugee Camp to personally meet refugees who recently arrived in Australia, and to gain a better understanding of their experiences, from asylum seeking to becoming refugees hoping to make a new life here in Australia. Together with their peers, some of these students also engaged in a refugee workshop, run by Stand Up, here at Emanuel. Our students shared their thoughts in their reflections below.

Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Rachel Turtledove

Stand Up’s Refugee workshop was highly informative and interesting. We participated in a variety of different activities, stimulating our thinking on the everyday situations that refugees face, after they are accepted into Australia and try to integrate into society.

We were able to understand common myths and stigmas around refugees, including the reasons they are seeking asylum in Australia. Furthermore, we engaged in dialogue and debate on significant topics about refugees and their position in Australian society – an important experience and opportunity to gain different perspectives on refugees.

Overall, this was an incredible workshop to learn more about the refugee crisis in the world and the immense struggles people have to go through after being accepted into Australia.

Natasha Gering

Refugee Camp was an unforgettable experience that made me realise the extent of difficulty refugees go through and the injustices they feel. The tour was a stellar experience where we each simulated being refugees ourselves, with real-life refugees guiding us and sharing their personal experiences. I learnt so much and am now inspired to speak up about this issue and to actively engage in raising awareness.

Noah Klein

On Friday, two representatives from Stand Up, Nell and George, came to speak with us about the refugee situation in Australia. We learnt all about how refugees experience detention centres, as they are often not let into the community.

We participated in an ‘Oxford Debate’, involving two students, one affirmative and one negative, debating a point. At any point, we could ‘tap out’ one of the students and argue the point ourselves. We were asked many thought-provoking questions regarding how refugees are often treated. It forced us to think about this pressing issue in Australia, which we normally don’t think about.  

Statistics and information regarding the questions that we were arguing about were then shared. Some of the statistics were staggering and saddening, making us reflect on the lucky lives that we have, living so easily.  

Then followed a game in which we were given situations that refugees really face, every day, with different ways we could choose to handle them. If we chose correctly we would step forward and if wrong, we moved back, reflecting the challenge of refugees trying to move forward in entering a new country. Sometimes the most ‘harmless’ decisions ended up having very negative repercussions. Significantly, not one team of refugees made it to the end of the room and completed the game.  

This was a very enlightening experience where we truly got a glimpse into what it feels like to be a refugee.  

Nina Brown

The Refugee Camp excursion was eye-opening, to say the least. We were taken through a series of stations which replicated life in refugee camps – health and medical care, showering, accommodation, food and water supply and schooling. Refugees shared with us their experiences in making their way to Australia, as well as critical elements of their journey from their home to a new country. It really was a highlight of my year so far and it has let me see how much one must fight to make a change.