NT - Australian Red Cross

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