Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre

Have a look - It is who David Manne is associated with and has information about volunteering and donating. It also has some interesting links to find out more about issues and case studies.http://www.rilc.org.au/Home/Home.htm

David Manne

David Manne is a Human Rights lawyer and advocate. I recommend following him on twitter as you will keep up to date with all the news. Here is his twitter link - 

https://twitter.com/david_manne

This outlines the case David Manne took to the high court quite well. It is before the ruling of indefinite detetention as inhumane was released a few weeks ago. I just think David Manne has worked so hard and with such compassion. There is no pat on the back big enough for him.

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3528035.htm

Discussion on ABC around High Court ruling

This is an interesting discussion on the High court's ruling involving indefinite detention in Australia. It is interesting to see how the government is trying to sweep this under the carpet and the downplay of this news in the media.
Considering how big this news is, it is hardly on the news.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-06/an-australia-high-court-refugee-ruling/4299212

Nirma's Cardamon Tea

Nirma as I said before, makes the tea when we visit the detention centre. He’s good at it too. Cardamom/cardamon tea I believe is a common hot drink in Sri Lanka and is made similar to chai on the stovetop. I was fascinated to see how Nirma makes the tea without a stove. Because the visitor centre is only equipped with a microwave and an urn, he has figured out and fine-tuned what he has to do to get it pretty well perfect every time. So if you want a delicious cup of tea, visit Nirma at the detention centre!

The specific method is as follows:

Use two black tea bags and quickly dash them with boiling then place them in one polystyrene cup. Then pour in milk in the same cup to ¾ way up. Add about 5 dried cardamon pods (will figure out the right name soon) and then place in the microwave for 2 whole minutes.

When it is done and hotter than ever, Nirma takes it out, takes the tea bags out and the cardamon and then grabs another polystyrene cup. He then proceeds (to my amazement) to pour the tea from one cup to another at a great height. Not a drop is spilt. It looks like one long stream of milk from one cup to the other, almost a metre high.

The purpose of this I discovered, was to make the tea froth and texture.

Nirma suggested putting a little honey in it if you have it and you like things sweet.

Human Rights

http://www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/immigration/index.html
This is a link to the Australian Human Rights Commission website. On which you can find answers to questions like...

How long are people held in immigration detention?

There is no set time limit to how long a person may be held in immigration detention in Australia. The period of time a person spends in detention may vary from a few days up to a few years, or even longer.

Through the window

This is a rough sketch of what I see when I look through the visitor centre window and into the grounds of the detention centre - where we aren't allowed to go. There is often some people playing cricket, volleyball or just sitting. The grounds remind me of high school a bit. High school was fun at times but I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life in there.

Nirma

This is Nirma. He makes the tea when we come to visit. Cardamon tea. I'm a big fan. I asked him what else he was good at and he gave me this list
.

Raj's hands

This is a picture of Raj's hands. He was watching me draw it and you will see he was marking it up the top. At the end he updated his mark to 99/100. A fairly generous mark I think. I believe he used to be a teacher.

Shiranthi

This is Shiranthi. She is a lovely woman who has been visiting the detention centre every week. I hope she can contribute to this blog later.

Raj

This is Raj. He has been in indefinite detention for over three years in Broadmeadows. He is from Sri Lanka and I believe he is around 30 years old. His birthday is on Monday so I will have to ask him. However age seems to be a delicate topic for those in indefinite detention. It can seem like your life is wasting away and any hope of getting married, having kids or a career is lost.

 I discovered that he is a wonderful artist and I will post up some of his drawings later. I asked him to do a drawing for the blog and when I last saw him I asked him if it was finished. He said with a smile that his 'baby' wasn't ready yet.

The start

I started this blog because I believe that I am one of many Australians who is ignorant.

We can't know enough about Australia's issues with refugees and asylum seekers and we certainly don't know enough about who they are and their stories.

After visiting a detention centre in Melbourne, I want to share with you what I have learned and what I have felt.

So this is the start. The start of becoming less ignorant, more informed and more empathetic to the people we know so little about....