Welcoming Refugees (difference) to Australia and Beyond

What I have learned travelling the world is that ordinary citizens do not share the fear of leaders and the media, they are normally helpful to strangers or those they don’t know.  Many times I have learned and shared with others helping refugees.  I know of people teaching refugee or those from overseas to read English and organising activities.  They get to know them.  When you do it it is your life that changes more than theirs.  What I’ve learned through my interaction with Muslims is what real family was about.  In my own reality my family broke up and I saw people working all the time with no time for community.  Those I had the privilege of meeting from a wide range of cultures showed me the simple life outside of work. I have clowned in Bangkok with local Thais, I have danced with Egyptians, I have gone sightseeing with Greeks, talked with Londoners, chatted with the Scots, juggled with the Irish, held hands with Americans, shared cultures with the Mexicans, shared a meal and conversation with Canadians, made friends with Salvadorians, taught peace to Costa Ricians, attended a wedding with Bolivians (clowned), visited hospitals in Peru, discussed economics with Argentinians, dressed up with Chileans (photo shoot), visited nursing homes with New Zealanders, drank vodka with Russians, experienced the magic of candles in windows with the Finish, visited schools with the Nepalese, made friends with the Japanese and Chinese, grew up with Croation friends, shared spirituality with Mauritians and so on.  I’ve met so many people from around the world; in their country I was a kind of refugee, I was always taken in (couch surfing) and fed and even in poor homes they refused money. That is the real world I know of.  I am not interested in threats and demonising any people.  I am interested in learning about differences (diversity) and making peace (harmony).  Perhaps you are too. Perhaps this is the real meaning of making love!

In my culture and many other cultures today we believe in the protestant work ethic, it is expected everyone has to work.  The system depends on it to make money.  If you don’t work then you are seen on the periphery, somehow a failure and you become socially excluded if you don’t have money.  I don’t see failure at all.  I know from my own experience that when you focus on others and community you start to realise life is about sharing, caring, revealing and healing.  Money in my experience is not important, it is experience that really matters.  I made that the focus on my life.  Making community in the same sense can’t be done at work because people have no time and your colleagues are not necessarily your friends and professional relationships focus on tasks not who you are.  Although people do make friends at work the focus is work not community in most cases. 

I remember the friendship of an afghan family who wouldn’t let me be alone, they came around me to be sure that I was happy.  I recall them playing harmonia and singing together.  That wouldn’t happen in my family, we talk more but we don’t know the power of the art of community building in the home.  Afghans prepared food together and talk and laugh.  People made friendship.  There were conflicts but that is normal to any society.  What I loved was the sharing consciousness.  Those from the poorest countries I found to be the most generous and it was a joy to have a guest.  They had a strong sense of hospitality.  In Australia today many young people don’t know how to be hospitable as they are not taught or they don’t witness it from their parents, their parent/s work.  Such is the subtle breaking down of society here.  I do recall a time where there was community here but it slowly eroded with the demands of work and the expensive lifestyles that we created.  It has been interesting to watch the society change. Grandparents would have a memory of communal society and social life far more than the current generation.  In times of innocence.

However, I would say to people around the world.  Keep on sharing with foreigners/refugees, keep on offering your homes, keep on creating a world family.  Ignore any messages of division that always arises from fear.  Our true nature is love.  Our happiness in the world rests on unity.

Here is a lovely article providing examples of simple acts people can do to welcome others.

Quietly living as the evidence a better Australia is possible

Happy 2015! I’m starting this year so encouraged by the beauty I see around Australia in the lives of Welcome to Australia volunteers and friends as they quietly go about showing their community what generosity and welcome look like.

On Saturday evening this weekend I was privileged to take my family along to “An Acoustic Affair” on the grounds of The Welcome Centre in Adelaide. A small-scale acoustic music festival, “An Acoustic Affair” was dreamed up and put together by Nick and Katie Dawson who work full-time and also volunteer at The Welcome Centre. While we listened to their friends’ bands play under the stars, a few young asylum seeker friends cooked up Persian kebabs, kids danced, people lounged in bean bags… and over $500 was raised for the work of the centre. 

It reminded me of the power of people quietly living as the evidence that a better world is possible – of the fact that social change isn’t just about changing public policy or influencing the media (though both are essential), but that it’s also about people like Nick and Katie simply living in their community in way that embodies the spirit of welcome that we want to see reflected in our national character. 

In fact, this kind of thing is happening all over Australia through volunteers like you. In Wollongong this Saturday, Surfers for Refugees will hold its first event, following up on Welcome to Australia (Wollongong) and Surf Educators International’s recent free water safety day. 

In Newcastle, work is continuing on developing our Welcome Centre there and monthly bbqs are connecting new arrivals with long-term residents. In Melbourne, we put the call-out for people to help 30 asylum seeker families with new-born babies living in cramped accommodation and were inundated with offers of support. Welcome to Australia (Victoria) regularly organises social excursions for new friends around the Victorian countryside, or to the soccer, all via the generosity of volunteers.

In Hobart, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane – and beyond – Welcome to Australia volunteers quietly go about personally and practically giving asylum seekers, refugees and other new arrivals a warm, positive and dignified welcome. Organising soccer matches, visiting families, delivering furniture, teaching English, running school holiday programs, presenting school seminars, giving guitar lessons… day in, day out, Welcome to Australia people are infiltrating their local community with a message of acceptance, generosity, friendship and welcome. 

And it’s a privilege to behold. People living as the evidence that a better future is possible. One where all people are treated with dignity and respect; where cruelty is not the measure of strong leadership and where in word, deed and policy our nation recognises that “if we’re all people, we’re all equal.” 

Thanks for encouraging me with your consistent commitment to cultivating a culture of welcome in your community. You’re the tangible expression of the values we exist to uphold and you’re making more of a difference than you might imagine.

I’m looking forward to working with you in 2015 and sharing more of our plans and ideas as the weeks unfold.

Brad Chilcott
National Director
Welcome to Australia