Deputy Principal

Living by our Touchstones

Last week, I attended the EREA Deputy Principals’ Conference in Adelaide. For me, being new to the EREA system, it was a chance to get together with my colleagues from all over the country. We shared our practice and learnt from each other so as we could come back to our own school and improve practice. 

The keynote speaker that had the most impact on me over the two days was a young man by the name of Fida Hussain. Fida is a refugee from Afghanistan. At the age of 15, his family sent him on his own to Pakistan as a refugee, to be able to live a life free from persecution. As I listened to his story, I could not imagine my own son who is 15, being sent off to look after himself halfway around the world. From Pakistan, Fida travelled to Indonesia, where he made a few unsuccessful attempts to get to Australia by boat. Each unsuccessful attempt had him locked up in an Indonesian prison. Finally, he successfully made it to Australia, where he was locked up at Christmas Island for two years. Remember, this was a young man, by himself, with no family, seeking a better life. 

Fida made his way to Adelaide and with help from an advocate gained a place as a student at an EREA school called St Paul’s College, Gilles Plains. Here we get at insight into our touchstones of providing a liberating education and being an inclusive community. By gaining an education at St Paul’s, Fida went on to study engineering at university. Whilst he was able to tell his mother over the phone, he never got to see her again as his mother and brother were killed in a terrorist attack. Fida has only recently been able to go back to Pakistan to see his five sisters as he is now eligible for a visa and able to obtain a passport.

Fida’s story was a reminder for me, and hopefully a reminder to us all, of the human stories of refugees that seek a better life in this country. Too often we get lost in a political discourse that takes out the human element and an individual’s story. My children were blessed to be born into Australia which gives them enormous freedoms. My hope is that we share these freedoms and our beautiful country with all its resources with as many people as we can. This is part of being a Christian community. It is our responsibility as global citizens to look after those less fortunate than ourselves and to be a refuge for refugees.

Adrian Byrne

Deputy Principal