Just A Little Something

Well Hi. I haven't written for a while - I'm sorry! The night the Seeking Asylum in Australia conference finished I hopped a plane to Sydney, where I was working for a few weeks, then it was Christmas and now it's January. And that brings us to now! Happy New Year :) I had a beautiful Christmas. It was a little bit of a period of transition, too! I was planning to spend Christmas with a few of my reffo boys but a lot of them had plans with new friends, other families, and were too busy / cool for me! It was so good though - seeing them put down roots and build their lives is so great. It makes me happy! But still, even though they are moving on (renting houses, getting jobs, winning scholarships...!), there is always the uncertainty of Temporary Protection. What if they're not accepted come review time? What if they have to go back to Iran / Afghanistan / Iraq and start their lives all over again, AGAIN? Even though most of them are a shoe-in and they should be completely fine, there is still that doubt, and I think it takes a massive toll. It's very unsettling, and a huge psychological barrier to freedom and real closure.

There are some other things I want to write about, which I won't do now.

** DIMIA has decided it's no longer responsible for the 2 detainees left on Nauru - this is interesting news, and I'm following it up.

** There are still 92 people on the Indonesian island of Lombok, who have been there for FOUR YEARS. Will write more about this in the next week or so.

Happy 2006 everybody!