Refugees and Asylum Seekers

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Over the years SWAN has had a variety of speakers discussing the complicated social justice issues around Asylum Seekers and refugees in Australia. Several members of SWAN are regular visitors to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and are happy to take any items donated at SWAN meetings to the ASRC.  A box is located by the registration desk where donations of non perishable food and toiletries can be deposited. For further information on fund raising campaigns, volunteering opportunities and up to date news, please refer to the ASRC website. 

 Bayside Refugee Advocacy and Support Agency is another option for assisting refugees and have details on their website re how you can join, what they do and how you can assist. 

Also Grandmothers for Refugees who also welcome Friends of Grandmothers for Refugees.  

I'm Hani, Poet and RACS Ambassador.

I wanted to share with you my poem - 'I Will Rise'.

I wrote this when I was held in Christmas Island, as a tribute to the great Maya Angelou.

Because people will rise, it doesn't matter what happens. There is always hope on the horizon.
 
I Will Rise
by Hani Abdile
 
You now lock me in detention
and damage my hopes
But it's like dust
And one day, one day I will rise

You may avoid my sadness
and send me to Manus
But one day, one day I will rise

You may hide the reality
and break my heart
But one day, one day I will rise

Why can't you help me?
Why can't you help me?
I might be a female who needs assistance from you

You may send me to other countries
and shoot me with your words
But one day, one day I will rise

You may punish me
by saying lies
But one day, one day I will rise

You may kill me with your hateful actions
But it's like air
And one day, one day I will rise

You may never care about my awful past
and enjoy my tears
But one day I will rise

I might have bad memories
rooted in pain
But one day, one day I will rise

I may have left a fear-filled life,
a fear-filled life full of horror
But one day I will rise

Does my mind, does my mind upset you
so full of thoughts?
I'm an asylum seeker,
I am an asylum seeker
who seeks for freedom
and doesn't have anywhere else to go

Does it come, does it come as a surprise to you
that no matter what you have done to me
I will forgive you?

Wherever you send me
as long as I see the sun rise
and the moon come up

I will rise.
I will rise.
I will rise.
Hani Abdile,
Poet and RACS Ambassador