Dear All
With great pleasure I hereby launch the high schools Australia IS
Refugees! competition, to complement the project we are already running
in primary schools. I am delighted to have judges Phillip Adams, Helen
Garner and Tom Shapcott; and the extraordinary gift of Margaret
Reynold's sponsorship for the first prize: a trip for the winner to the
UN in Geneva in April 2003. We will be coordinating an event in December
for prize presentations, at which Malcolm Fraser will announce the
winners and present prizes.
Getting young people to rethink or revisit the idea of what it means to
be a refugee has enormous value and potential right now, at a time when
the term has lost its meanings and become derogatory. We have a social
and political climate in which the Government makes policy and pushes
through legislation on the strength of the assertion that refugees
arriving here by boat are not 'real' refugees, and not deserving of our
compassion and support, not deserving of inclusion in Australian
identity and nationhood into the future. This has done untold damage to
individual men women and children, as well as damaging ourselves and the
understanding our children will extend to others and will have of the
world. I think Australians will change if they have a better
understanding of what the real stories are, and if we can find ways to
counter a Government that is so improper that it could command our
defense forces not to take pictures of asylum seekers that could
"humanise" human beings in our eyes. I believe that change will come
through education and that is the basic idea behind these projects.
Many schools and many children are taking part in these projects, and
will have an interest in the stories that come out of them. We are also
hoping to collect and edit a selection of stories and pieces from both
projects to form a book that will be published in the mainstream, read
for general interest, read in schools and by the families of the
thousands of children who will have participated. This is a way for
Australian children to feel that they are part of the history of
refugees coming to this country, and that they have an understanding and
vested interest in the unfolding narratives of peoples' lives now.
I ask for your support in a number of ways.
Please forward the project to everyone you know. Get friends, children
of friends and schools in your area involved.
We need to raise money for prizes, and to bring the prizewinners and
judges together at the event, and to organise the function. We welcome
donations, and also any suggestions you may have for persons we could
approach for corporate or organisational sponsorship, as this event will
be an excellent opportunity for sponsors. If you have some good ideas
regarding potential sponsors, please give us the contact person as well
as the company or organisation, if you can.
I'll keep you informed with progress
Best
Eva
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_____________________________
Dr Eva Sallis
Department of English
University of Adelaide
South Australia 5005
Ph 08 8303 4563
fax 08 8303 4341
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