Update: Dictionaries for Refugees handed over to Amnesty International
On the 27th of September 2012, RRAN’s Dictionaries for Refugees program was handed over to Amnesty International Australia under the name Dictionaries for Asylum Seekers. It is time for this little project to grow up and leave it’s home at RRAN and we encourage everyone to support it as it moves to Amnesty.
RRAN started raising money and delivering bilingual dictionaries to people in detention following our visits with families detained at the Leonora detention centre in January 2010. The program was a massive success delivering hundreds of dictionaries to people in detention centres across the country. It allowed us to be introduced to new people in detention, maintain on-going contact with them and learn the truth about the realities of Australia’s Immigration detention system. More importantly it helped demonstrate to refugees that in a world which continually tells them they have no place there are in fact many people in the community who care about them, who are fighting for their rights and working to welcome them to their new home. The gratitude we’ve received from people in detention has been very moving.
Unfortunately as a small group of volunteers with limited funds and resources we at RRAN are no longer able to keep up with the ever increasing demand for dictionaries (building a grass-roots, community movement to challenge the policy of mandatory detention is already a full-time job). So rather than leave people waiting or disappointed at missing out we approached Amnesty in the hope that with their profile and greater access to resources they would be able to raise the necessary funds to deliver dictionaries to everyone who needed one. Thankfully Amnesty International Australia have agreed to take on the Dictionaries for Refugees project and will enable this project to become even more successful.
D4R, as we like to call it, is a project we care about deeply and one people should continue to support, however from this point people should donate to the Amnesty dictionary program as they will now be the primary purchaser of dictionaries. We would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has donated and supported the project.
And for the archives…
Why are we doing it…
In August 2010 the Refugee Rights Action Network visited asylum seekers being held inside the Immigration Detention Centre in Leonora, WA.
As well as delivering toys and goodwill, we spoke to detainee representatives inside the facility. When asked what they needed they replied: improved medical care – in particular for the pregnant women in the centre – and access to English lessons.
Whilst we can’t provide medical support, or ESL lessons, we realised we could provide one very effective thing – Dictionaries. And so the Dictionaries for Refugees (formerly Detainees) project began.
Empowering Asylum Seekers
The vast majority of asylum seekers in detention speak little or no English. This places them in a much disempowered situation – as their understanding of their own situations, and ability to advocate for themselves, is compromised.
Asylum seekers in detention tell us they feel isolated and forgotten – even believing that they are hated by the Australian community.
In remote detention centres such as Lenora, Curtin and Christmas Island, there are few or no visitors and little to do but sit about and dwell on their difficult circumstances.
How you can help…
The “Dictionaries for Refugees” project is one small way which we in the Australian community, as individuals, can seek to redress or reduce these negative aspects of detention. In providing bi-lingual dictionaries to detainees we seek to:
• give detainees the chance to learn English, both for use while they are in detention, and with the hope of being more prepared for living in the Australian community if and when they are granted a protection visa
• let the asylum seekers in detention know that they have not been forgotten by those of us in the community who think that mandatory detention without charge or trial is wrong
• give detainees something useful and productive to do with their time
• make a statement to the broader community about showing common human compassion for those who seek safety and shelter from war and persecution.
Starting with Leonora detention centre, where 50 or so families are currently held, we seek to provide at least one bi-lingual dictionary to each of these families.
A donation of $20 to $30 is sufficient to fund one dictionary. These dictionaries should be particularly useful for the children who are attending school. We hope that the dictionaries will be a treasured gift, with the potential to be of use for many years to come.
When making a donation to “Dictionaries for Refugees” we encourage people to send an accompanying card (which RRAN will forward on) with a welcoming message for the detainee who receives the dictionary. A simple message of welcome and support can do a lot to boost moral and generate goodwill.
