All people are OUR people

In the past few days I have not been able to bring myself to write on my blog as I knew my posting would be full of emotion and possibly even a little anger - which is not how I wish to use my words to explain to you all my recent heart changing and challenging experience. However, a few days have pasted and I have had times to process, give it to the Lord, pray and feel my way through… so here I give you a little insight into my thoughts on the recent visit to an Australian Asylum Detention Centre! 

Recently I read that in a poll taken in 2014, that 60% of Australians want the government to treat asylum seekers more harshly. I question how many of these people who voted have actually met an asylum seeker of even been to where the government are treating them. AND another part of me wants to go back and tell these individuals you got your opinion heard, acted upon and now look!!

After a recent trip to a detention centre here in Melbourne, I wonder if this is how people must have felt in Nazi Germany during the early stages of the 'war'. Their government suddenly decides that apart of the human race is no longer quite as human, resulting in the start of a gradual but accelerating process of further dehumanization, which increasingly allows breaches of human rights and atrocities to be accepted, and eventually one might say encouraged! 

In truth it makes my stomach turn, in part in angry towards humans treating others in this manner and also the reality that can only sink to the heart straight away. 

I am very aware that I don't want to be apart of the mass that accepts this! When did Australia become the kind of country where this can happen? For us New Zealanders, Australia is a picture of a holiday paradise, where we come over here to embrace the sunshine, spend days at amusement parks, shopping, night life and taking in more of the beaches. New Zealand Im sorry to say that we are soooo fooled, this is a cover image that if we actually stopped to look beyond this commercial image reality will hit us in the face!! The promise land image that was present all those years ago, still is out there in the world and still coming to a giant crashing halt when people present their ticket to obtain entrance to the promised land. 

When meeting these beautiful faces, their arms are outstretched embracing you in a warm, gentle hug that holds so much meaning… it is full of gratitude and love to the stranger that has taken two moments to stop, pause, acknowledged them and shine a little bit of light onto them giving them a sense of hope, reminder of their importance, in a world that is full of concrete - in color, texture, warmth and structure. 

There are so many stories of love and endurance; of fear and generosity; trails and oppression, when you take a moment to intimately look at what restricts the innocent lives held at the centre of the Australian Asylum seekers debate it is overwhelming to understand… 

The families have swap one war zone for another… seeing rioting, violence and civilians killed. 

there comes a point in these people lives when enough is enough.. often coming in families seeking safety, whatever the cost!

No one with even a little bit of logic would put their families / children, on the ocean if they had any other options, the decision to travel by boat must be extremely difficult! To get to that point of making this decision is un-comphrendable. On the other side of this, is those who have turned peoples lives into a business opportunity… I have no words for this, I am still processing the 'angry' I have towards these individuals….

To arrive in a land that seems like paradise only to be sent to prison would shake anyones spirit. I find Australia's current refugee policy extremely distressing and while I can't personally change this, I can give my time to ensure that people know they are not alone, as sister said the other day, that if nothing else these individuals will remember that one person cared about them, one Australian came to visit them!! 

A thing of beauty yet I struggle within me to be content with just this.. there has to be more I can do… Prayer is my starting point….

I connected with the most beautiful girl while visiting. Her family are spilt apart, they are highly educated, her parents made the decision to travel the dangerous journey seeking safety for their children. They all have spent their lives working and studying, hoping to be apart of a community to support that community not to be a drain on it. Yet instead the Government now have them facing soul-crushing indefinite detention. 

They are good people, and they only want the chance to live a life in which they have fought so hard to keep. 

In a country that is made up from so many different cultures, not just present day yet go back hundreds of years ago, I wonder what makes current day Australians any different 'TYPE' of human beings. Why they are 'entitled' to a more privilege life. Who gave them them the right to have advantage over these people. Seriously everyday Australians need to ask themselves why they are more special, more entitled to live here than anyone else. No matter which way anyone swings it, however it is worded, the message that is so clearly been put out there saying that Australians are 'better' than people of other nationalities, when ultimately, we are all the same and we have a moral responsibility to help OUR people..

All people are OUR people.