Refugee Activity

Australia’s Refugee Dilemma!

Imagine if....

The following is an example of an imaginary scenario that can be used to encourage students to think about what it means to be a refugee.

Imagine that your mother or father arrives home from work one day and tells you that the police are about to arrive to arrest the whole family, because of your family’s religious beliefs.  You are told to pack a small backpack and be ready in 2 minutes. A family friend drives you overland to Darwin where you climb aboard a yacht. Your parents hand over thousands of dollars in cash. Six weeks later the yacht leaves you on a Japanese beach.  Police arrive and take you to a detention centre which is prison and home to refugees like yourself from various parts of the world, all speaking different languages. Only a few other people speak English.  The guards, canteen staff, doctor etc. all speak Japanese.  Your parents tell you that they are applying for refugee status in Japan, which means you will be allowed to live in the country, go to school there and eventually get a job. 

1. What would you pack in your backpack?

I’d put something special to me that’s small like jewellery or trinkets from friends/relatives, photos, books, food.

2. What would you miss most if you had to leave your home, your school, Australia?

I would miss my friends, family, relatives, my house, my books, school, my pets, my life and all the things I loved too to do for fun.

3.      What would be some of the problems of living in a detention centre in a foreign country?

If you lived in a detention centre in another country you wouldn’t know their language, way of life, their laws or expectations of people.

4.      What would be the biggest challenges for you if you and your family were accepted as refugees?

It would be difficult to learn the countries customs and language as well as be accepted by other people. We would find it difficult to adapt to the life of this country and we would miss our old home.

5.      Why is this ‘imagine’ story a very unlikely one?

 It is very unlikely this would occur in Australia because Australia is a diverse and      multicultural country and accepts people regardless of their religion, nationality and differences. Australia’s laws and beliefs insure that this would never happen.