The school built by Afghan refugees in Indonesia, a scene from The Staging Post By Felicia Di Stefano
MANY of us have run away from something. I remember as a child running from a German shepherd in a market garden and the relief when I climbed back to safety through the hole in the tall cyclone fence. I also remember running from a boy in our Wroclaw street after I had kicked his leg hard when he had called me a dirty Jew. Then in 1959 my whole family ran away from Poland to land safely and gratefully in Australia.
In recent years Wonthaggi has welcomed South Sudanese and Karen refugees. The Sudanese ran from their homelands, family and friends, leaving behind all their possessions, when their government dropped bombs and destroyed all that human endeavour had created on their lands.
MANY of us have run away from something. I remember as a child running from a German shepherd in a market garden and the relief when I climbed back to safety through the hole in the tall cyclone fence. I also remember running from a boy in our Wroclaw street after I had kicked his leg hard when he had called me a dirty Jew. Then in 1959 my whole family ran away from Poland to land safely and gratefully in Australia.
In recent years Wonthaggi has welcomed South Sudanese and Karen refugees. The Sudanese ran from their homelands, family and friends, leaving behind all their possessions, when their government dropped bombs and destroyed all that human endeavour had created on their lands.
A South Sudanese family of 10, Cecilia and Nichola and their children, has settled here in Wonthaggi; others have travelled on to other parts of Australia.
One of Cecilia’s stories relates how she ran from the bombs that fell on her village close to Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
“We ran for the river,” she told me. “When the planes made a different noise we knew that they would drop bombs so we lay flat on the ground, then got up and ran again. If we did not reach the river before the bombs fell our bodies were covered with a dust that made us itch for days.
“When those who survived returned we found that a machine had come to bury the people who didn’t run fast enough. There was not enough time to give the people a proper Christian burial.”
Another of her stories is of drinking water and lying on her stomach to stop the hunger pains.
A different kind of story is the one of Cecilia and Nichola and their three children coming to Australia as refugees and eventually settling in Wonthaggi. Cecilia has often told me that she thought she had arrived in paradise. The family have bought a home and had another five children. Two of their children have completed year twelve in Wonthaggi, and one is about to become a father here. The family have many friends and attend a local church.
A story of achievement indeed: freedom from hunger pains, freedom to walk the streets in safety and freedom to have a roof over your head.
The Karen and Rohingya are despised minorities from Myanmar, persecuted for who they are. There are some forty Karen people in Wonthaggi now.
Mou Hsai, a Karen woman living in Wonthaggi, tells of standing on a mine in her Myanmar village when she was pregnant. She lost her leg but her daughter, Po Wah Si, was later born unharmed. Later Mou Hsai gave birth to a son, April. Mou Hsai and her husband Ah Clai have purchased a house in Wonthaggi; Po Wah is studying hospitality and working at the Wonthaggi Club and April is at Wonthaggi Secondary College.
Mou Hsai and Ah Klai have held weaving demonstrations and distributed lovely hand-woven scarves, bags and national Karen clothes. The Karen are wonderful cooks and often invite friends to celebrate in their homes, sharing beautiful dancing and delicious food.
These are just a very few of the thousands of inspiring stories of refugees who have come to Australia in search of freedom and safety.
To celebrate Refugee Week in mid-June, South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees is screening The Staging Post, an inspiring story about Afghan refugees who, while waiting for resettlement in Indonesia, built their own school. That school sparked a refugee-led education revolution. Now there are 10 refugee-led learning centres with 1,500 people attending.
The Staging Post will screen at the Wonthaggi Union Community Theatre at 7pm on Friday, June 14. The documentary is G rated and entry is free. All are welcome. Filmmaker Jolyon Hoff will be there for a Q&A at the end of the documentary, along with Afghan refugee Muzafar Ali, who helped build the first school, and his family.
Donations are welcome with all funds raised going to the first school. Inquiries: [email protected]
One of Cecilia’s stories relates how she ran from the bombs that fell on her village close to Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
“We ran for the river,” she told me. “When the planes made a different noise we knew that they would drop bombs so we lay flat on the ground, then got up and ran again. If we did not reach the river before the bombs fell our bodies were covered with a dust that made us itch for days.
“When those who survived returned we found that a machine had come to bury the people who didn’t run fast enough. There was not enough time to give the people a proper Christian burial.”
Another of her stories is of drinking water and lying on her stomach to stop the hunger pains.
A different kind of story is the one of Cecilia and Nichola and their three children coming to Australia as refugees and eventually settling in Wonthaggi. Cecilia has often told me that she thought she had arrived in paradise. The family have bought a home and had another five children. Two of their children have completed year twelve in Wonthaggi, and one is about to become a father here. The family have many friends and attend a local church.
A story of achievement indeed: freedom from hunger pains, freedom to walk the streets in safety and freedom to have a roof over your head.
The Karen and Rohingya are despised minorities from Myanmar, persecuted for who they are. There are some forty Karen people in Wonthaggi now.
Mou Hsai, a Karen woman living in Wonthaggi, tells of standing on a mine in her Myanmar village when she was pregnant. She lost her leg but her daughter, Po Wah Si, was later born unharmed. Later Mou Hsai gave birth to a son, April. Mou Hsai and her husband Ah Clai have purchased a house in Wonthaggi; Po Wah is studying hospitality and working at the Wonthaggi Club and April is at Wonthaggi Secondary College.
Mou Hsai and Ah Klai have held weaving demonstrations and distributed lovely hand-woven scarves, bags and national Karen clothes. The Karen are wonderful cooks and often invite friends to celebrate in their homes, sharing beautiful dancing and delicious food.
These are just a very few of the thousands of inspiring stories of refugees who have come to Australia in search of freedom and safety.
To celebrate Refugee Week in mid-June, South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees is screening The Staging Post, an inspiring story about Afghan refugees who, while waiting for resettlement in Indonesia, built their own school. That school sparked a refugee-led education revolution. Now there are 10 refugee-led learning centres with 1,500 people attending.
The Staging Post will screen at the Wonthaggi Union Community Theatre at 7pm on Friday, June 14. The documentary is G rated and entry is free. All are welcome. Filmmaker Jolyon Hoff will be there for a Q&A at the end of the documentary, along with Afghan refugee Muzafar Ali, who helped build the first school, and his family.
Donations are welcome with all funds raised going to the first school. Inquiries: [email protected]