Recently Sara Bortz with fellow classmates accompanied by Emanuel parent and Board member, Shira Sebban, and I, visited refugees being held at the Villawood Detention Centre. We thank Mrs Sebban for helping make possible this impactful learning experience for our students. Sara’s words echo those of this week’s parashah which remind us: “You all stand together… including the stranger in your midst”.

Rabbi Siegel

Our visit to Villawood

Sara Bortz – Year 11

Villawood Detention Centre, as its name suggests, is a place of detention. It is a place where refugees, people who have fled their homes because it became too dangerous for them to live there, are held while they await acceptance to be integrated into Australian society. It is highly secure, in fact it is controlled by the Australian Border Force, the same government department that regulates who comes in and out of the country. These people aren’t criminals. They simply want to be safe. So why are they treated as if they’ve done something wrong?

An 18-year-old Iraqi boy who loves Mathematics is now denied an education in Villawood Detention Centre because he is no longer considered a child. An Afghani man in his 20s claimed to have been assaulted by a guard, and just a few days later he was charged with assault himself. A young Iraqi man named Mohammed was the only member of his family who left home. His parents and his siblings stayed in Iraq. He and his case manager have finished all the required processes, checks and documentation for him to be moved to community housing, but, over a month later, he hasn’t heard anything from the immigration officials.

Yes, we may come from different countries, we may speak different languages, we may have different cultures and we may practise different religions, but we have something in common –  we are all human. We all have the right to be acknowledged, we all have the right to be heard, we all have the right to be safe, to be free, to be seen, to be loved. We cannot turn on our fellow humans. We cannot neglect them or make them feel unworthy or unwanted or undeserving. We cannot be free while those around us are suffering. 

We are the citizens of this country, and therefore we are accountable for the decisions our government makes. As the future leaders of the country, and as global citizens, we have an obligation to advocate for justice and to fight for the rights of our fellow humans. While it may be difficult for us to change the minds of our local Members of Parliament, we can still have an impact. We can visit places like Villawood Detention Centre and talk to the people who need us to stand up for them. We can be the voices for those who are not heard. We can be the proof that from little things, big things grow. From small actions, larger impacts can be realised.