Dr Nadine Shema
Refugee Dr Nadine Shema on improving Asylum Seeker Experience & Refugee Wellbeing
My speech (to the Detention Harms Health rally on Saturday 7 April at noon in Hyde Park) below …
1.My name is Nadine Umutoni Wa Shema.
2. I am a child of refugees, I am a refugee and a refugee advocate.
3. There are 3 things you can’t choose in life: your family, your Country and your race. Some are very fortunate to be born in countries which have peace, freedom, justice, institutions and accountable leaders, however others aren’t!!
4. I arrived in Australia in 2011 as a postgraduate student. Later, my husband and my son joined me.
5. Immediately after his arrival, my husband sought for asylum, this was an opportunity for him to flee from injustice and persecutions that he endured in his country.
6. Dear Australians, to seek asylum is a RIGHT not a CRIME!!
7. We were asylum seekers for 4 long years, however, despite the benefits provided to us, you can’t imagine the amount of stress and trauma caused by the long wait, the uncertainty and the fear to receive a negative outcome.
8. Now imagine 1,800 innocent people including 150 children in detention centres who are indefinitely locked up with no adequate healthcare, no hope, no rights and no future.
-THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE AND UNHUMANE. WE SAY NO TO DETENTION.
Imagine parents who decide to flee their countries with their children knowing all the risks involved including death, do you think they would do so if they had another option?
9. Dear Australians, it shouldn’t be about HOW they came to Australia but WHY THEY COME TO AUSTRALIA.
10. I hear some people calling them BOAT PEOPLE or some service providers using BOAT NUMBERS to identify these refugees; these are human beings not objects or numbers. They deserve their dignity, they have names please use them.
-WE SAY NO TO DEHUMANISATION.
11. Before coming to Australia in 2011, I was a National PMTCT program Manager and a medical doctor.
12. In detention centres, there are doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, lawyers, journalists, businessmen, people with qualifications, skills and experiences, people who had dreams to prosper and excel but who have seen all those dreams slowly fading away. However, I believe we can still do something to bring their hope back and this event today is one of them.
13. These people have suffered a lot however, they are the most resilient and most amazing people. If given the opportunity to heal and settle, we will see them contributing to the diversity and the economy of this country.
-WE SAY NO TO DETENTION
14. In 2012 with my colleagues, we Co-founded the GLAPD to assist our fellow Africans to settle and integrate in Australia. Most of our initiatives are community initiated and community driven.
15. Today we are fundraising for the Rural and Regional Resettlement Program, a program that we pioneered 2 years ago and which has generated a lot of interest in both the refugee communities and the local rural communities.
16. Our refugee families are being resettled in rural areas to reinvigorate and rejuvenate the declining and aging rural populations and at the same time putting their agricultural skills to use.
17. Out of 200 families waiting to be resettled, we have only been able to resettle 9 families in both rural NSW and VIC. We are also in touch with 15 other rural and regional areas willing to welcome our families. Nevertheless, the implementation of this program has been very slow because of lack of funding.
18. Your generosity today and the days to come will be a great support and an immeasurable contribution to both our families as well as all the declining rural communities.
19. There are different ways you can donate.
• Donation buckets for cash money with QR codes to scanned for online donation.
• Donation cards to be completed and be returned to volunteers or GLAPD Int. info desk/stall
• Crowdfunding site
• Donate through GLAPD website (www.glapd.org)
• Hand your donation at GLAPD info desk/stall.
As a symbol of our commitment to welcome and assist asylum seekers and refugees let us all do this: turn to the person next to you and show him/her a welcoming smile, helping hands and compassionate hearts.
Jane Salmon for Dr Nadine Shema
