Discover. Share. Inspire

For my unit edfd459, we were directed to this link:

https://medium.com/@theIRC/what-s-in-my-bag-758d435f6e62

It is about the things refugees pack in their bags when fleeing from their countries.

This reading was very moving and reminded me of something Melissa Fleming mentioned in her TedTalk; that many refugees would risk their lives to bring their high school diploma with them when fleeing their country, in the hope of building a better life for themselves somewhere else. The following is the transcript from her talk, describing the brave actions of one Syrian refugee.

“A Syrian refugee boy I know told me that he didn’t hesitate when his life was in imminent danger. He took his high school diploma, and later he told me why. He said, “I took my high school diploma because my life depended on it.” And he would risk his life to get that diploma. On his way to school, he would dodge snipers. His classroom sometimes shook with the sound of bombs and shelling, and his mother told me,“Every day, I would say to him every morning, ‘Honey, please don’t go to school.'” And when he insisted, she said, “I would hug him as if it were for the last time.” But he said to his mother, “We’re all afraid, but our determination to graduate is stronger than our fear.”

People living in a war- torn country are constantly in a liminal space – they do not know what will come next. Even a child on their way to school risks their lives on that journey, not knowing whether they will survive on the way there, or the way home, or even while they are in their classroom. They do not not if their family with be alive if they are fortunate enough to return home. Or if there will be food on the dinner table. This is the sad reality of many people around the world.

When refugees flee their country they are still faced with a great deal of uncertainty and fear of the unknown. What will we encounter at sea? Will we make it to our destination? Will my family survive? What will happen once we get there? Will we have a better life?

How would you feel if you had to live with such uncertainty?

We have the power to change the lives of these people. We have the power to help. This is what my future learning space is about.

I feel like I am soon approaching the biggest liminal space in my life so far… finishing uni. I am currently in the process of writing my resume, which means very soon applying for schools to casually teach at.

At every stage of my life I have known what comes next. After primary school I went to high school and while in high school I knew exactly what I wanted to do at uni and which uni I wanted to do it at. But now, I don’t where I will end up… maybe I’ll stay in Sydney and get a job close to home, maybe I’ll go travelling, or perhaps move overseas to work. Who knows just yet? It is a little bit scary but also very exciting! There are so many possibilities available to me.

We need to explore the concept of liminal spaces into our classrooms and teach our students not to be afraid of them. We need to teach them skills in how to positively deal with change and be patient when they are encountered with the unknown, because the unknown is exciting and has the potential to have a wonderful impact on our lives.

“All refugee children tell us education is the most important thing in their lives. Why? Because it allows them to think of their future rather than the nightmare of their past. It allows them to think of hope rather than hatred.”