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Australia - A Story of Three Women
I met three stately women, one elderly, one middle-aged and one quite young as they made their way, in their brightly hued national dress, through the streets of Melbourne. The peak hour commuters hardly glanced at them. Multicultural Australia has changed much in the last thirty years. We were all heading for the Mothers� Union office to discuss ways in which MU gatherings for Sudanese women could facilitate their settling into Australia.
Each woman told her story with a different perspective on life in Australia. The elderly woman, without self-pity or dramatisation, told of the loss of her husband in the war in Sudan, of the tragic loss of other family members and her own bullet wounds. She was grateful to be safe from war in Australia but grieved for her country and loved ones. Nevertheless she longed to help those settling in Australia.
Her daughter, also, was well educated and perceptive about Australian culture. Her story concerned the plight of refugee families in Melbourne. Since the majority of the refugees are women, whose husbands are dead or missing, they tend to live together in two-family households to provide mutual support. If they are from a rural background they are not used to handling money and quickly find themselves in financial difficulties living in a large city. Expensive phone bills result from seeking news of families left behind. The young boys do not have males for role models or to discipline them and some get into serious trouble. Everything from the landscape to the food and even the Church is alien.
The third and youngest of the trio sat quietly, listening carefully throughout the proceedings, then spoke passionately. She was grateful for those few dedicated Australian MU volunteers who had set up sewing and conversation classes for the Sudanese MU in a suburban parish. But the younger women were looking for more than help from kindly amateurs. They urgently needed information that would give access to the development of skills leading to employment: they wanted to become financially independent.
Large groups of Sudanese are being settled in Australian capital cities. Many come from a tradition with a vigorous Mothers' Union. We need to respect the fact that the Sudanese way of “doing” MU will be different from mainstream Mothers' Union. The following suggestions have been taken up by MU in Australia to facilitate the settlement of refugees.
- Be sensitive to the fact that many of these women and children have undergone terrible suffering. This can affect concentration and behaviour. Listen if people want to tell their stories but don't pry.
- Be large-hearted enough to listen to their needs. In an enthusiasm to do good, it is easy to superimpose our own ideas on what is needed. So don't be offended if some of your efforts are not valued or members of the group want to become independent of your efforts. This is a good thing because it shows growth.
- Provide English conversation classes. Usually government classes have to be accessed soon after arrival. Women are often precluded from attending because they have young children or are busy settling their families. What they really want to know is how to function in Australia. How do you tell the difference between junk mail and bills? How do you tell a doctor what is wrong with your child? Why are schools always sending home letters? Why do we have electronic sewing machines when treadle machines are so much easier to repair? These are just a few of the puzzles confronting newcomers.
- Keep in touch by encouraging, strengthening and supporting them in their family life. We may be surprised to find that it is not a one-way street of giving and that mainstream MU groups will learn something in return about the reality of Christ's love in the face of suffering.
Baxter Detention Centre
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Hebrews 13: 1-2
I, with other members of MU have been privileged to visit Baxter, a detention centre on the outskirts of Port Augusta South Australia and have got to know some of the refugees and their families.
The security for a visit is very stringent. Everything you take in (cake, etc) is x-rayed, you empty your pockets and leave everything in a locker. Having had your identity checked, you walk through a system like the airport, with a wrist band and infra-red stamp on your hand. You are then escorted to the visitors' centre by an officer, and await your visitor. The children go through this procedure each day to go to school.
There are many nationalities at Baxter: refugees from Iraq, Iran, China, Pakistan, Syria, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, Africa. They live in compounds which are built in such a way that they can only see the sky. It is the most demoralising place to visit. Some of the children have been there over three years and know no other life.
Many babies have been born at the Port Augusta Hospital, the few days of freedom soon end with their return to Baxter. The children grow so quickly, and the parents have no photos of their children at the different stages of their lives, as cameras are not allowed at Baxter. Even when released, these families will have great gaps in their lives. Raising teenage children in these circumstances is very difficult.
It is a great joy to join with the ministry team for the Church services. Various denominations take it in turns to take the services. During the break between services, we share cake and tea, and listen to the refugees' sad stories of why they escaped their homeland.
The children going into school speak perfect English and are being put into higher classes, as they learn so quickly. Boredom and depression are two of the biggest problems at Baxter The women love to knit, and crochet. MU members have helped in providing many things, such as jigsaw puzzles for the detainees.
Please pray for these families, that a solution will soon be found, and those who can stay will be released into the community.
Migrant and Refugee Network
Due to lack of funding, this Network has not met in recent years. The Chair, Archbishop Ian George of Adelaide, attended the fifth Global Conference on Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees at the Vatican in October 2003. It is clear that a greater level of cooperation between the two communions would be possible. Archbishop George is continuing with the Network for another year and, in retirement, plans to visit the key areas of the Communion where refugee issues are central for Anglicans, in the hope of coordinating Communion concern and cooperation better in the future.
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