One Christmas

By Chris Van Ingen

Almost a week ago I went to the funeral of Leo an Asylum seeker who was that afraid of being sent back to Sri Lanka he felt he had no other option than end his life.

I had the blessing and good luck to spend Leo’s last Christmas with him, in that time I learned that he was quite, gentle, kind and generous a man.

At the funeral I heard a story that illustrated Leo perfectly; Leo was so generous his boss had to stop him from donating his entire wage to charity.

I know our government has to have policies and procedures to process refugees and asylum seekers  but surely Australia wants more people like Leo, not less.

Leo was Tamil and catholic two things that put a target on his back and made him afraid of being tortured if he was forced to go back to Sri Lanka.   

On top of this Leo suffered from serve mental illness, no matter what culture you are from Australia is not very excepting of those that have mental illness.

Despite all his hardships he still believed in putting others before himself a quality that we all should  try and carry with us.

We are all part of one universe, one song we need to recognise our common humanity and stop fearing what is different.

I again urge our government to replace fear with love and while being thorough is necessary we must stop adding to the fear that refugees and asylum seekers have had in their life.

I only knew Leo for a short time but his quiet dignity, compassion and kindness will always make me grateful for that one Christmas.

“Remember to keep the wheels of life turning in your direction”   

The world game shame.

Last night l happened to catch a Four corners story that horrified, repulsed and strengthened my resolve all at the same time.

This story was about Brazil and the world cup and the Grand Canyon sized chasm between the billions of dollars being spent to host the world cup while millions of Brazilian citizens still live in extreme poverty.

The story followed a fourteen year old girl who was selling herself for sex because she was so poor. How can anyone put a game ahead of the welfare of children?

The story also said that sex tourism is going to increase during the world cup; Sex is such a beautiful thing and should not be corrupted in this way. Children everywhere deserve the right to be children!

Since soccer is called the world game why didn't FIFA choose a host that represents the best the world has to offer?

I have said this many times but after the story last night I will repeat it again how long is it going to take for us all to put humanity at a higher value than money?

Sexploitation is wrong and we all can do our bit to end the extreme poverty that makes this ugly practice possible.

The Brazilian government argues that the money the world cup brings in will help the people in the slums long term but surely the billions spent on the world cup should have been used to help the people rather than such a useless spectacle of entertainment.   

I am more determined than ever to help to continue the movement to end extreme poverty after seeing this story, so if any of you are watching the world cup take a second to think about the young people who are selling themselves mere meters from the stadium in which the world’s attention is focused.

I will never forget Brazil’s world game shame and neither should you.

“Remember to keep the wheels of life turning in your direction!”