The following reflections are from students who recently visited the Villawood Detention Centre. Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Miriam Itzkowitz Year 10

Many people say that Australia is a multi-cultural country and celebrates diversity and difference. What if I told you that that I find this to be incorrect? But how would I know?

Last Thursday, I, along with 2 other students, had the privilege of going to Villawood Detention Centre to visit detained refugees and hear their stories, and I am sure that they don’t deserve to be in the positions they are currently in.

Villawood is split up into 3 sections: low security, medium security and high security. Low is for people who could have overstayed their visas or came by boat without proper documentation, medium is for those who may have broken a few non-citizen rules and high is for criminals. What many people don’t know, and what I learnt going to Villawood, is that people who live in Australia, who are not citizens, have tougher rules placed upon them. So theoretically, someone who isn’t a citizen could be sent to detention for speeding just once, whereas citizens have a certain number of warnings or accumulate a certain number of points before their licence is taken away.

We heard stories from many people. One refugee, a 19-year-old boy named Jamal, is in medium security detention from Myanmar, but he actually grew up in Australia, attending Belmore Boys High School. His story was quite sad, having one of his brothers decapitated as a child, another kidnapped and another  who died. Jamal is Rohingan, the most exiled group of people in the world. When he was 7, he and his older brother, who was 14, sought refuge in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand before arriving in Australia. Jamal didn’t tell us why or how exactly he ended up in Villawood, but it is likely that he did something wrong, which consequently made him end up there.

Mohammed, from Iran, ended up there because when he came to Australia, he unknowingly was the driver for a drug ring. He, and 4 of his 5 brothers, came to Australia because his parents were worried what would happen if they stayed in Iran, as they’re Christian. He got caught up in the drug ring because the people he was staying with gave him a home, and said in return he had to drive them to various locations, and once he realised what was happening, it was too late.

For me, the most heartbreaking story is a man who was injured in the Sri Lankan army and took so many blows to the head, that he is brain damaged. He has no proper reason to be in Villawood, but they don’t know what to do with him, so they just keep him there (in medium security).

In Australia, any refugee who arrives by boat cannot apply for citizenship. At Villawood, if a refugee needs to go see a doctor, they have to go in handcuffs. These 2 facts I find upsetting, as people who seek asylum don’t do so to disadvantage a country, but do so to stay safe. Many of these people are being treated as criminals, even though many of them have only committed minor offences, or haven’t broken the law at all. I don’t think the method of transportation they use to get here should define their validity and character in being a good citizen. Two of my grandparents arrived here by boat, after facing much exile during the Holocaust. Why can’t we protect these people from exile too?

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It was only last week that 2 other students and I attended Villawood Detention Centre and it was one of the most eye-opening experiences I have had.

Behind the metal detectors and lots of endless doors we were faced with the stories of people who live their lives in detention.  Our visit was very confronting and opened my eyes to the hardships of the real word. We were extremely fortunate to meet so many different people from 2 different compounds.

We listened to numerous stories of people trying to protect their families and themselves within their home countries and trying to find a better life in a safer country. Many of the detainees we met were aged between 19-22 years old and a few had even been in Villawood for 8 years. We spoke to 5 or 6 different people in the reception area of the compound, learning about their stories and their lives. The people we met were some of the most down to earth people I have ever met. They were so open to sharing their stories which left us speechless and so grateful that we got to hear their stories and that they opened up to us in the way that they did.

This experience was truly a most incredible and important experience and I highly recommend it to everyone. Thank you to Mrs Sebban and Rabbi Siegel for taking us to Villawood Detention Centre and for providing us with the amazing opportunity to meet all these people and hear their stories.

Esther Reznikov, Year 11

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Tallulah Stein Year 10

We all see news articles and posts, on a regular basis, that surround the refugee crisis with the phrase “turn back the boats” used to describe it. But, what does this phrase really mean? And what are we doing about it? As the refugee crisis is a topical subject, worldwide, getting to fully understand the issue on a more personal scale is not only relevant but insightful. I got the opportunity to see for myself what is going on, here in Australia, when I visited the Villawood Detention Centre for refugees.

We went in unaware of what was to come, what type of people would be in there, how they would react to us and unsure of our abilities to connect with them. With these uncertainties we were taken to low security, to meet some of the Centre’s residents. It was here we met with 5 different men, learning their stories from their home countries and escapes from persecution. I was unnerved knowing how young they had been when forced to flee and how different their childhoods were to ours, filled with constant pressure, anxiety and terrors of being jailed or killed. They struggled too, on an economic level, with most of them unable to work because of their age and relying on an older sibling or family members for support in a different country. These refugees also suffered malnourishment with one of them telling us of his previous diet of dirty rice, filled with bugs and cockroaches.

Yet through all of this, they still do not have true freedom. They might be safe from religious or cultural oppression and persecution, but we now have locked them up in an institution, preventing them from truly living. Adding to the discrimination they have already suffered. 

In visiting Villawood, I have become truly aware of one of our nation’s greatest challenges and understand how our country is need of responding better to this global crisis.