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”