It has been over half a year since I first joined this focus group and I feel like I have learned a lot not only about refugees but also myself as a member of this focus group. Recently, as a focus group we have achieved quite a lot like our Amala alumni posters and our involvement in the annual Write for Rights.
In order to promote and advocate for refugee education, Amala focus group decided to put posters up in the Plaza allowing the school community to learn a little about them. When helping put together the posters, reading their stories made me more aware of my privilege. One alumni story that stood out to me was Ali who currently lives in Athens, Greece but originally from Iraq. He came from one of the top schools in Iraq, however, violence was always prominent at school and he wondered; “why did we study many subjects, like mathematics, physics, and there is not even one class that teaches us how to be human.” I think this puts a lot of things into perspective, that at the end of the day we are all human and must work together rather than against. My favourite part of the poster is that the pictures of the alumni’s are on the poster, this really helps humanise and have sympathy for them.
Here is the poster on Ali:
As the COVID 19 pandemic restricts many events, this year, focus groups worked together to run Write for Rights. Amala was responsible for logistics, this included, setting up the drop boxes, making the drop boxes and making a case study on refugees. I helped a lot on the boxes. As time was limited, a number of us students had to go to school on the weekend in order to finish making the drop boxes. When making the actual boxes many of us agreed that it felt therapeutic as we got to paint the boxes- which I really enjoyed. I spent a lot of time planning and making the dividers for the boxes. For me personally, I found making the dividers for the boxes the hardest.We also had to take into consideration how big the slits should be as well as the tags of the boxes. Doing all of this in one weekend proved to be stressful for us especially for the leaders of the focus group, but many people in the group offered time and help to finish this off. It was rewarding seeing our boxes around school and even more so seeing that there were letters in them.
The Write for Rights event and the Amala posters tie in well with one another. There was a case study on the Rohingya refugees in Malaysia that inspired me to think about how the COVID 19 pandemic influences the lives of refugees. From many organisations having a hard time accessing remote areas and less people donating, refugees are facing even hard times during this pandemic. It really highlights the importance of education and how to get of this cycle for the future generations to come. This experience really opened my eyes to the broader issues regarding refugees and made me more passionate about accessing education. I really do hope that our posters and letters will have a positive result!
Link to Amala website (Alumni stories)
Link to introduction to Ali
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