Asylum seekers
ASYLUM SEEKERS
Take a moment to imagine the life of an asylum seeker. You live in a country, ravaged by conflict, poverty, illiteracy and hunger. You are stifled by your circumstances, bound to a life of suffering. For a 17 year old girl in a developing country, life is different from ours.
Say that you are a 17 year old girl in a developing country. Horrible realities are faced every day. With no identification or passport, nothing stands in the way of child marriage; that is, you could be married with children by the age of 12. You are just one of the 70% of out of school children that are girls. Pregnancy due to early marriage is a common occurrence, and further separates you from the community and makes you responsible for not only yourself, but your malnourished children. In a body that is not considered your own, but your husbands, you are forced to work. To support your families, you have the potential to resort to prostitution, which opens doors to HIV/AIDS. Without the education on HIV/AIDS and how it is contracted, you do not know the risk of unprotected sex. You have now contracted HIV/ AIDS and have also given it to your children through breastfeeding. You are sick. You are exploited. You are a statistic. You are nothing.
Now look around you. Needless to say, we are extremely lucky to have had been born in Australia. A country of natural resources, a booming economy and plenty to g around. Plenty. Defined as: A large or sufficient amount or quantity; more than enough. Now if Australia as too much, and some countries don’t have enough, wouldn’t a logical and rational thing to do be to spread our resources around? To do the RIGHT thing and help others, because, as our mothers always said, it is right to treat others they way you would want to be treated?. So, as you have reflected on your life as a 17 year old in a developing country where asylum seekers come from, would is be fair to say that you would want a helping hand?
I cannot begin to
Take a moment to imagine the life of an asylum seeker. You live in a country, ravaged by conflict, poverty, illiteracy and hunger. You are stifled by your circumstances, bound to a life of suffering. For a 17 year old girl in a developing country, life is different from ours.
Say that you are a 17 year old girl in a developing country. Horrible realities are faced every day. With no identification or passport, nothing stands in the way of child marriage; that is, you could be married with children by the age of 12. You are just one of the 70% of out of school children that are girls. Pregnancy due to early marriage is a common occurrence, and further separates you from the community and makes you responsible for not only yourself, but your malnourished children. In a body that is not considered your own, but your husbands, you are forced to work. To support your families, you have the potential to resort to prostitution, which opens doors to HIV/AIDS. Without the education on HIV/AIDS and how it is contracted, you do not know the risk of unprotected sex. You have now contracted HIV/ AIDS and have also given it to your children through breastfeeding. You are sick. You are exploited. You are a statistic. You are nothing.
Now look around you. Needless to say, we are extremely lucky to have had been born in Australia. A country of natural resources, a booming economy and plenty to g around. Plenty. Defined as: A large or sufficient amount or quantity; more than enough. Now if Australia as too much, and some countries don’t have enough, wouldn’t a logical and rational thing to do be to spread our resources around? To do the RIGHT thing and help others, because, as our mothers always said, it is right to treat others they way you would want to be treated?. So, as you have reflected on your life as a 17 year old in a developing country where asylum seekers come from, would is be fair to say that you would want a helping hand?
I cannot begin to