NT - Australian Red Cross
NT - Australian Red Cross
NT - Australian Red Cross
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PAGE 10<br />
<strong>NT</strong> NEWS<br />
Critical humanitarian work<br />
‘We are delighted to<br />
be a part of the <strong>Red</strong><br />
<strong>Cross</strong> team. It gives<br />
us pleasure to see<br />
asylum seekers<br />
benefiting from the<br />
work of <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong>,’<br />
Bill and Heather<br />
Prendergast.<br />
Bill Prendergast. Photo: <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong>.<br />
<strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong>, through<br />
its Immigration Detention<br />
program, has visited<br />
immigration detention<br />
facilities under formal and<br />
informal arrangements with<br />
federal governments since<br />
1993. <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong> humanitarian<br />
observers assess and monitor<br />
the general conditions of<br />
detention as well as the<br />
treatment of people held in the<br />
detention network – people<br />
who are some of the most<br />
vulnerable in our society.<br />
Bill and Heather<br />
Prendergast are<br />
Immigration Detention<br />
program volunteers<br />
working in Darwin.<br />
Bill and I are <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong><br />
volunteers – our primary volunteering<br />
work is at the three detention centres<br />
in Darwin. <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong> has an<br />
independent monitoring role in these<br />
detention centres.<br />
Heather Prendergast. Photo: <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong>.<br />
Our current volunteering work with<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong> and other community<br />
organisations in Darwin is the<br />
culmination of many years working in<br />
various countries through <strong>Australian</strong><br />
Volunteers International and United<br />
Nations Volunteers. We returned to<br />
Darwin with an understanding of the<br />
incredible injustice, trauma and<br />
torture so many others experience,<br />
sometimes through sudden political,<br />
economic or natural disasters but<br />
sometimes the crisis has been<br />
ongoing for generations.<br />
We have seen the events that<br />
cause people to flee their home<br />
country and the trauma that causes<br />
families and communities. So, when<br />
the opportunity arose to provide<br />
support to asylum seekers held in<br />
detention we both felt we had some<br />
knowledge of their motivation to take<br />
a dangerous journey to Australia and<br />
the ongoing suffering most would<br />
be experiencing.<br />
It’s inexplicable why we were born in<br />
a country where the majority of the<br />
population experiences political and<br />
economic security and where there<br />
are publicly funded safety nets for<br />
families experiencing hardship. We<br />
do not always feel these are<br />
sufficient, particularly in terms of<br />
preventative programs, but if we<br />
were born in many of the countries<br />
we have lived and worked in, we<br />
would very likely have suffered<br />
unimaginable hardship, and minimal<br />
or no access to basic food, shelter,<br />
health and educational opportunities.<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong> plays a vital role in<br />
maintaining hope and monitoring<br />
living conditions of asylum seekers in<br />
detention and we are delighted to be<br />
a part of the <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong> team. It<br />
gives us pleasure to see asylum<br />
seekers benefiting from the work of<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong>.<br />
How you can help<br />
To find out how you can<br />
become a <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong><br />
volunteer visit www.redcross.<br />
org.au or call 1800 811 700.