MY POEM

ONE PERSON

Can one person make a difference?

If you believe, nothing is impossible

I have read about people who fought for justice.

I have talked to people who change the world everyday.

I have become friends with strong, passionate people

Who will reach out to others and take on challenges.

I have shared my stories and I have listened to others.

I have cried, I have laughed,

I have felt angry, I have felt vulnerable

But I have also felt proud and strong and powerful.

I have connected to thousands of people.

I have learnt so much.

So can one person change the world?

YES

If you believe, nothing is impossible.

Believe in the person deep and strong within

And you will make a difference.

Every individual in this world is created for a purpose

And every one is here to change something.

In this world there is misery, penury, pain and suffering

But there is also hope, laughter, love and friendship.

Is it possible to make a difference?

Yes, even one person,

With honesty and loyalty, can.

IMAGES FROM 'COOKING FOR THE TEACHERS' FUNDRASING FOR THE TRIP TO MELBOURNE

Before we traveled to Melbourne the 'Hobart Campus Students Against Racism' group cook for the teachers so they can raise some money for the trip to Melbourne. We cook lots from different countries such as Africa, Philippines, Bhutan, Nepal and Afghanistan. We had a great time helping each other and entertaining ourselves with jokes, music and games.

Gini, Amon, Lax, Me and Stephen

Ashley, Amon and Me

Stephen, Ivan and Guot

Sukuma Wiki

Samosa

Chapati

Guot

Ronald

Paska making Samosas

Meharitab, Fely-Rose,Roda Lax and Kim making jokes

Trip to Melbourne

On the 31st of August 2010, 'Student Against Racism' fly to Melbourne. The main reason for this trip was to go and meet with the Western Young People's Independent Network. They are a group that had been running for twenty years. They are doing the same thing we are trying to do which is 'stop racism'.

We arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday at 11.30 and we took a visit to La Trobe university. We did a presentation to occupational therapist students. After the presentation, the students took us for a tour around the university and what we saw catches our attention. none of us had seen a school with such a beautiful little town in it before. In the Evening we left for Preshill High school. Preshill High was where we will be staying.

We arrived at Preshill 4 o'clock in the evening and we met few teachers and students. we cook dinner after that we went to the city to see a play 'The West side story' and it was very interesting.

Us at Hobart International Airport

Arrive and visit La Trobe University

Did presentation to Occupational Therapy students at La Trobe

Hanging with our Aboriginal brothers at the ' West side story' play

did presentations to Preshill Students and teachers

Hanging around with Preshill Students.

Images From the presentation at the ' Blue Print for a Fairer World' exhibition

Dancing Traditional dance

The Group with Gagebrook Primary kids

Nene, Shane and Roda

MY APPLICATION FOR TASMANIAN TRANING AWARD

MY APPLICATION FOR TASMANIAN TRANING AWARD

WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN 2010?

This year has been a busy year for me. I have been involved in lots of community development with the Hobart Campus ‘Students against Racism’ group. I am doing 2 pre-tertiary subjects as well as 2 Certificate subjects. I have joined the leadership group on Campus and taken on a leadership role in the ‘Students against Racism’ group. I am learning lots and developing my skills so that I am ready for the future.

After winning the School Award for Humanitarian Activities last year, our group, the ‘Hobart Campus Students against Racism’ have become bigger. We have more members and have been doing lots of activities. We have developed our presentation and added a workshop which can be adapted for different groups. We have done a number of presentations on campus as well as working with the Global Learning Centre to present at the ‘Blue print for a fairer world’ in June. This was a great opportunity because we worked with secondary school students and even delivered two workshops to primary aged students. We had to adapt our workshop so it would be fun and interesting for them. We included lost of games, songs and focused on things that were the same and things that were different between people.

Our group is organising a trip to Melbourne to do a workshop with the Western Young Peoples’ Independent Network who have been delivering workshops about racism for twenty years. This has involved meetings with other groups, fundraising and taking on jobs to make it happen. As one of the leaders I went with my teacher to discuss the possibility of making a partnership and applying for funding so we can develop the group further. This was interesting for me as I would like to be involved in this type of work in the future.

We organised Harmony week on campus which involved lots of events including musical performances, food, dance and the ‘Living in Between’ presentation. In the two and a half years I have been here, I feel things have changed on campus. More students accept us and know why people from other countries have come to live in Hobart. People know me and I am part of this place and I have the chance to help new students with a refugee background connect to the school.

We have got a lot of media coverage including Southern Cross news, ABC radio and articles in the Mercury. I have done a lot of interviews and I am getting better at expressing myself and telling about our project. It is important that we get this publicity so more people know more about what we are doing and why it is important.

There is prejudice and racism because people don’t understand or maybe they have never met somebody from another country such as Sudan and they do not know why they had to leave as refugees. We aim to change people’s attitude by sharing our stories and explaining what it is like to live between two cultures, two languages and two countries.

This has changed me in many ways. I have become confident to stand in front of people and talk about my story. I have been surprised that people want to listen and learn from my experience. This makes me feel happy because people will not judge me by the way I look but what they know about me. I’ve learnt a lot about organising people, events and activities. I know I can motivate people and I can be a leader. I really liked working with the young children because they are very open and tell you exactly what is in their head. Also my childhood was not enjoyable but when I work with young children I become like a child again and I can relax and play with them.

As well as our trip to Melbourne we have more presentations planned including speaking at the Amnesty International Conference in July and planning how we will fund and develop our group so that we can continue. I want to do well in my final year of school and look at the study and work options for next year. I have learnt so much and I want to give something back to the community of Tasmania. I want to use my skills in multimedia, my ability to communicate with people and my experience as a refugee from Sudan to change the world.

Presenting at the "Blue Print for a Faire World' exhibition.

This week is the ' Blue print for a fairer world' exhibition. Today, monday of this week, are doing our presentations to students from Rokeby High school and other students from other different colleges and the southern cross television are going to be there report the coverage. On thursday, we are presenting to Gagebrook primary kids.

Today was a great experience and adventure for me. My group ' Students againts racism' and I went and do presentations to the Gagebrook primary kids. We presented the culture, language, food and costume that we use in countries which we come from. We explained to them how we came to Australia and why. we had fun playing games with the kids and was happy because I felt like a kid again. It made me to forget all the bad memories of the my past and brought all the good memories of my childhood back to me and the fun that I had when I was a kid.