Month: May 2006

Aboriginals and 8Alive

Today at school my class watched a very good film called ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’. I’ve seen this film many times and every time I watch it I feel very angry when the white people take the Aboriginals and half-casts (half aboriginal, half white person) away from their families. The white people just came in and took over the whole of Australia! I feel very angry, even though I’m not an Aboriginal. This was so selfish of them.

‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ is an amazing story, which is true. It shows exactly how Aboriginies were treated. The white people took over the land and basically kicked the Aboriginies (who were here first) out! This was so cruel! The white people then separated the aboriginal or half-cast children from their families. They took them to a place far away, and forced them to speak English. The white people took total control of Australia, and even tried to wipe out the Aboriginal race! This was such a mean thing to do, and I feel ashamed to be part of a country with such a terrible history.

I would have been very happy to share the land with the Aboriginal people if I was around those days. Actually, the Aboriginals should have had more rights on the land than the white people; they were in Australia first! I recon the white people were being very selfish taking over Australia and pushing the Aboriginies out. They never showed any empathy towards the Aboriginies. They just decided that because the land was very fine, they would simply take it off the Aboriginies and get rid of them altogether!

Lets try putting ourselves in the Aboriginie’s shoes. Just say you’re living happily and peacefully in a lovely house, with lots of space and very nice rooms. Then, a group of strangers help their selves into your house, and then find out that you’re already living there. Instead of leaving, the strangers kick you out of your house and says that they’re going to live in it. You would feel angry wouldn’t you? But it gets worse… the strangers then decide that they want to delete you! They never want to see anyone from your race, with your colour skin again. so they grab you and put you into their car. Then you get driven far away, and you have been separated from your friends and parents. This is terrible! And you know, this is exactly what happened to those poor Aboriginies.

My class had another 8Alive excursion earlier this week, and we visited a place full of aboriginal paintings. There were dot paintings, colourful painings, dull paintings… and each painting had it’s own story based on Aboriginal missions. They were sad, and just one image showed how the Aboriginal people felt when the white people started over taking them. There was a picture of a little girl in the back seat of a car staring out of the window, taking a last look at her family and her home before she was dumped in a place where she was forced to be like the English (white) people. There was also a dot style painting that told a story of Aboriginal missions. The middle of the painting was dark, and represented the depressed aboriginals stuck in this sad place where they were forced to be and respect the English people. This place was separated from the rest of the painting, which was the rest of Australia and the Aboriginal’s family. The Aboriginal children’s family tried to contact their children using smoke from a fire.

The Aboriginals lived their lives very different to us, as they hunted food and killed it themselves, had no electronics, and had no houses or cars. When the White people came in, they were more advanced in technology, and stealing the land off the Aboriginies was so selfish; they had a land of their own in Europe! And afterwards, the Aboriginals weren’t even given the right to vote!

This could all have been settled if the white people had of just shared the land with the Aboriginals. I can’t really say it’s my fault, or my parent’s fault even though we’re white. We didn’t want to do this to the Aboriginals, and if I could change what has happened to them I would. But sometimes, it’s much, much easier to share things than to try and claim it all to yourself. The Aboriginies had the most rights over the land, but if the white people had just been willing to share Australia instead of stealing it, the Aboriginal people and the white people could have had a better relationship, and Australia could be a more friendlier place. Sharing is always better than fighting.

8Alive city excursion- Homeless people

Isn’t it good being able to go home to a place where you feel comfortable? A place where you feel safe, and you have a roof over your head to protect you things such as rain and wind? Yes, this is your home! Probably most people you know all have homes. Most likely houses, or rooms in some kind of building. Well after a visit to the city earlier this week, I have learnt that not everyone has a home. This is pretty sad to hear, as homes and houses are like normal, everyday things in our lives.

There are people, even here in Australia, who are homeless. They haven’t got a place to stay and keep warm, and some are even left to roam the street in search of food and shelter! Some homeless people take drugs, have no money and wear the same old, ragged clothes everyday. They find it very hard to get hold of some food to satisfy their hunger and they often sleep by the street on people’s doorstep. When they beg for some money, they often get rejected.

When my class and I visited the city for part of the 8Alive program, we listened to a man talk about homeless people. Some people he had heard of became homeless through incidents such as loss of job. Others can become homeless through other incidents. He told us about a 14 year old girl who was being abused by her mother’s boy friend where she lived. She had left the house because it was un-safe, and she stayed with her friend for a while. She then decided that she needed to find a more permanent place to stay, so she left her friend’s house, and started living in an old ware house. She had walked across the floor above ground level, when it collapsed and she died. This is a true story, which is very sad.

Homeless people don’t seem to make friends, and can become very depressed. This can then lead them to taking drugs which can cause other problems. I fell really sorry for the people without homes, and I never really thought much about this topic until I found out much more about it recently.

All this is very sad, and I wondered what we can do to help these people. Then the man started to tell us about a cafe that was held near a church in the city. This cafe welcomed everyone, including the homeless. I felt very pleased to hear that people were helping them. The homeless can get free meals at this cafe and they get to meet other people. The man told us how it was interesting watching a buisness person talk to a homeless person.

A lot of people image homeless people as old men wearing mits and sleeping on a newspaper. However, only around 10% of the homeless are like this.

The cafe in the city serves free food to everyone, and I think it’s a great idea to help the homeless people. This shows that there is a way to help, even with the most difficult situations. 

Book: ‘Girl Underground’ (Morris Gleitzman) and refugees

I’ve just finished reading a great book called “Girl Underground” by Morris Gleitzman. I’ve read quite a lot of his other books and I really enjoy them. I’ve been reading his books that are on the “Premier Reading Challenge” list, hoping that I have a chance of compleating the challenge.

This book has a some strong, clear messages. One of the messages I picked up from reading the book is, “No matter what other people think, stand up for what you believe in!”

This book focuses on an important issue that’s still part of our country today. My English class have been talking a lot about this issue lately. Refugees in detention centres. In the story, Bridget and Menzies are determined to rescue Jamal and Bibi from the detention centre. Bridget’s family history involves some crime, and even a family member being locked up behind bars for stealing. Can Bridget and Menzies save two innosent children, Jamal and Bibi from a desert detention centre, or will they end up behind bars too? I really like it how it says on the back cover of this book, “Sometimes, to help a friend, you have to dig deep.”

The story teaches you about what it’s like for refugees inside the detention centres through the letters that Jamal and Bibi send Menzies. I’ve give you a sneak peak at some of the letters Jamal and Bibi wrote.

“The Australian government say we are queue jumpers, but it’s not true. In Afghanistan everyone made queues except the people who were shot. In this detention centre we also queue. For soap, for food, for water. People with headaches have to queue for pills. But we don’t complain because if we do the guards shout at us and that’s not good for the people with headaches.”

“At home I saw people who hurt children and they weren’t sad.
They put their arms in the air like a winning team.
I think there are people like this in Australia too. I am sad
because I thought Australia was a kind place.
You are kind Menzies.
You give me wings.
I wish they were real.”

After reading this book I feel more determined for refugees to be let out of those detention centres. I want them to be set free! Like it said in this book, they haven’t done anything wrong! They traveled all the way to Australia, and then they are locked away in a detention centre.

When you were born, you didn’t have the choice of what colour hair you got, or what gender you were. It’s exactly the same for refugees. They didn’t have the choice of what country they were born in. And when they manage to get out of their terrible conditioned country, they get locked up in one of these detention centres, which is worse than a jail! In this book I read that people in detention centres are treated worse that criminals in jails! They just happened to be born in a country with terrible conditions! I don’t blame them for wanting to get out; their life is at risk everyday! Think of it this way. Just say you were born in a city, where there’s noisy traffic and polution. You didn’t like this, so you move to the country side where there’s fresh air and lots of bush. THEN, you get locked up in a place, where your treated like your some kind of criminal, just for moving away to a place with better living conditions! This is what it’s like for refugees. But they have to get out of their country because their lives are at risk! Worse that just living in the city huh?

So this is why I believe that it’s not right for people to be locked up in a detention centre. I learnt a lot about what it’s like inside a detention centre by reading this book. I found out that the refugees are identified by numbers, instead of their names. That they never know when they will be let out. A character in this book said that the only think that keeps him going in jail is knowing when he’ll be out of the place. The difference between refugee centres and refugee’s original countries, such as Sierra Leone, is that their life lives aren’t at risk of being killed in the detention centres like they are in their own country. But it’s probably nearly just as bad having to live a miserable life, locked up in a place (like being locked up in a cadge). Why can’t they be let out? Is it because then more people from these bad countries will want to get into Australia? (like mentioned in the book). This question, “Should refugees be locked up in a detention centre or be allowd to live in Australia” is a question that hasn’t got an easy answer. But it’s not fair to lock someone up and treat them so badly like what they’re doing in detention centres! I bet you would have a very straight answer to this question if you were a refugee. I’ve put myself in Jamal and Bibi’s shoes (two children stuck in a refugee centre in this story). I see the fences of the detention centres as separaters, separating the cadge (refugee centre) from freedom in Australia. I would LOVE to see that fence knocked down, and see the happy faces on the refugees as they’re set free! As the door to the cadge has opened and the refugees have access to freedom, like us! So they can enjoy the rest of their lives happily, and are open to do much more things! Can you imagine us being locked up in a detention centre now? There’s one word that every refugee wishes for. Just one word. And that’s freedom. To live safely, and happily in a country of peace.

The government has the power to grant their wish. Menzies father is a politition in this story. I’m not sure what he really wants, but he says that he can’t allow the refugees to leave the refugee centre. He says he’s just one voice. Menzies then gets very angry and begins to yell at his father. “You can help them if you want to,” he shouts accusingly. “You’re a minister. You’re important. All you care about is staying elected.”

Part of this is true! The government has the most rights! They can do something about this if a whole group of them get together. But the very person who’s guaranteed to make a difference is the federal leader of our country. He’s guaranteed to make a difference to those poor people in the detention centre… if he tried. But the thing is, he doesn’t want to. I bet it would be a compleatly different story if he was the one in the detention centre. It’s kind to let them stay in Australia instead of forcing them back to their own country where their life will be at risk everyday, but locking them up in a detention centre is just making their life un-happy!

If I could bowl down that fence surrounding the detention centres I would. I’m glad that the cake stall my English class held raised to much money, and I’m now certain that it should go towards making the condition in detention centres better. If the federal government leader won’t let the refugees out of those detention centres, then I will try and make the dentention centres better! My english class have raised money that I’m sure will help.

This story faces important issues and I’m glad I took the time to read it. I really enjoyed reading it and it’s taught me a lot more about refugees and detention centres.

I’ve finished reading Goodnight Mister Tom

Well I have now finished reading Goodnight Mister Tom. Although some parts of the book were slow, I really enjoyed reading it. It’s very well written, and towards the end of the book it gets really sad. I put myself in Will’s shoes and imagined how he must have felt. It’s depressing how he gets beaten by his mother and locked up in a cupboard. It’s very sad that terrible wars such as World War 1 and 2 claimed so many innocent lives. This is shown in the book, when the war killed many lives, including one of Will’s good friends. I felt my eyes water when I read this part.

Mister Tom proves to be the perfect father for Will. He’s a kind, soft-hearted man, and he and Will grow to love and trust each other in the story. The story’s very emotional, with some parts being very happy and other parts very sad. I’m really glad that I’ve read this book because it was a great experience and taught me a lot about the World Wars. They were very tragic and this story shows exactly what happened during the wars.

There are many secrets to find out by reading this book. Why is Will afraid of dogs? Why has he never had any friends before he met Mister Tom? I recommend this book to anyone willing to read a long, emotional story about a young boy with a terrible past. This lovely story, set during World War 2, will touch anyone.