{"id":3122,"date":"2013-10-06T22:37:27","date_gmt":"2013-10-06T11:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-711166-2356953.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3122"},"modified":"2013-11-09T21:49:43","modified_gmt":"2013-11-09T10:49:43","slug":"run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc\/","title":{"rendered":"Run for Refugees: Maria Nguyen on asylum seekers and fundraising for the ASRC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Maria<\/a>
Maria Nguyen calling out to Peril readers to support her 10km run for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My twenty-something-year-old niece Maria Nguyen feels helpless about how the ALP and Coalition governments deal with asylum seekers: \u2018It\u2019s gotten to this point where neither show much compassion to these people. It\u2019s almost no matter how you vote, you can\u2019t really change [things].\u2019<\/p>\n

We are seated around the kitchen table at her house. Asylum seeker policy doesn\u2019t often feature as dinner conversation in our family, but the outcome of the latest federal election has spurred Maria into action.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fitness goal of hers to run half a marathon; she\u2019s slowly worked her way up to 8km with the Mother\u2019s Day Classic and now plans to do 10km. Unlike previous fun runs, this time she\u2019s raising money for refugees.<\/p>\n

With Kevin Rudd\u2019s PNG resettlement aspirations and Tony Abbott\u2019s Operation Sovereign Waters, refugees and asylum seekers have been at the forefront of my niece\u2019s mind, \u2018I just feel like now more than ever is the time when the Resource Centre will probably need funds.\u2019<\/p>\n

What she\u2019s referring to is the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre<\/a>. The ASRC is an independent human-rights organisation that has been supporting asylum seekers since 2001. It isn\u2019t government funded and relies predominantly on donations. Maria first heard about the Resource Centre at the 2008 Global Health Conference<\/a> run by the Australian Medical Students\u2019 Association. ASRC CEO Kon Karapanagiotidis was a guest speaker and Maria recalls his concern for the plight of asylum seekers and refugees in Australia. \u2018He described visiting them in their detention centres: women and children who were treated as prisoners\u2026He described mental health issues as well as physical health issues. Lots of attempts of suicide which is very distressing\u2026Just his passion, his sorrow [while] talking about those sorts of issues struck me most.\u2019<\/p>\n

Karapanagiotidis encouraged those at the conference to volunteer their time and expertise once they had graduated. Maria has just over two years left of her medical degree but it\u2019s something she\u2019s interested in doing in the future. \u2018These people really need it [the medical help], especially those who are still trying to seek refugee status.\u2019<\/p>\n

Alongside pro-bono health services, the Resource Centre also provides meals, foodbanks, legal and material aid, ESL classes, employment programs, case workers, community engagement and detention rights advocacy. Unlike the Government, the ASRC doesn\u2019t \u2018means test or merit test\u2019 individuals and \u2018turn[s] no asylum seeker in need away\u2019(via ASRC website<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve always thought about it since [Karapanagiotidis\u2019 presentation],\u2019 Maria notes, \u2018even though I don\u2019t volunteer there specifically.\u2019<\/p>\n

She and her brother do, however, volunteer at St Vincent de Paul Society\u2019s tutoring centre in Dandenong, Victoria<\/a>, helping refugee and migrant kids master their maths and English. The kids range from primary to middle school and come from a variety of backgrounds. Maria and her brother usually sit down with one or two students, returning to the same kids every week. \u2018Some of them are quite behind in terms of their year level. They may have issues with English and on top of that we\u2019re instructed not to ask about their past or how they\u2019ve gotten there and what they or their family have experienced. But they could be bullied at school, they may have come here themselves in a refugee boat, they may have been tortured, they may have been exposed to violence. It\u2019s a lot different to tutoring year 6 or year 5 kids.\u2019<\/p>\n

Had she done tutoring before?<\/p>\n

\u2018Not at that year level. I\u2019ve tutored medical students and that\u2019s vastly different again\u2026Most of the kids [from Medicine] probably don\u2019t need tutoring, whereas these kids obviously have the need and on top of that they come from very complex backgrounds and they may have very complex mental issues, and so our induction sessions go through all of that. But for the vast majority of them, you see so much joy. You come in expecting you\u2019ve got to be sensitive about these cultural things but they\u2014they\u2019re really just kids. They\u2019re very open. They really do want to achieve and to become the best that they can be and we ought to provide them with as much opportunity to reach their potential.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s poignant that Maria is raising money for asylum seekers and helping out refugee and migrant kids in her spare time. Both her father and mother were accepted into Australia as refugees, after fleeing Vietnam by boat. While Maria\u2019s parents struggled to find their feet in their new homeland, they made sure their daughter attended the right schools. Having done well enough in VCE to get into Medicine, she is now part of the refugee migrant success story. Maria\u2019s future is bright, which is not something many kids of similar background can boast. Those who were left to fend for themselves whilst their parents struggled to make ends meet, \u2018they\u2019re put at such higher risk of everything\u2026of unemployment, of [lower levels of] education. And it doesn\u2019t seem to be getting better.\u2019<\/p>\n

So why donate to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre? Why give money to asylum seekers instead of true blue Aussie battlers?<\/p>\n

\u2018The Australian community\u2026[need to] see how vulnerable these people are and how much need and support they require from our services and from ourselves, and that they deserve our help as well. They\u2019ve made it here and they\u2019ve chosen to stay.\u2019 Grassroots organisations like the ASRC promote this much-needed awareness.<\/p>\n

\u2018Australians forget how much immigration and refugees have given back to Australia and the Australian economy. Maybe not the refugees themselves but the next generation.<\/p>\n

\u2018We need to keep in mind the long-term goals\u2026If we help them now\u2026I think they\u2019ll give back ten-fold, a hundred-fold.\u2019<\/p>\n

Maria Nguyen will run her 10km as part of the Melbourne Marathon on Sunday, October 13. She plans to raise $1500 for the ASRC\u2019s Run for Refugees<\/a> fundraiser, and has already raised over $1000. Please help Maria blitz her target by donating at her \u2018Run Mars Run\u2019 page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My twenty-something-year-old niece Maria Nguyen feels helpless about how the ALP and Coalition governments deal with asylum seekers: \u2018It\u2019s gotten to this point where neither show much compassion to these people. It\u2019s almost no matter how you vote, you can\u2019t really change [things].\u2019 We are seated around the kitchen table at her house. Asylum seeker policy doesn\u2019t often feature as dinner conversation in our family, but the outcome of the latest federal election has spurred Maria into action. It\u2019s a fitness goal of hers to run half a marathon; she\u2019s slowly worked her way up to 8km with the Mother\u2019s Day Classic and now plans to do 10km. Unlike previous fun runs, this time she\u2019s raising money for refugees. With Kevin Rudd\u2019s PNG resettlement aspirations and Tony Abbott\u2019s Operation Sovereign Waters, refugees and asylum seekers have been at the forefront of my niece\u2019s mind, \u2018I just feel like now more Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[38,163],"tags":[183,324,337,581,582,583,584,585],"yoast_head":"\nRun for Refugees: Maria Nguyen on asylum seekers and fundraising for the ASRC - Peril magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Run for Refugees: Maria Nguyen on asylum seekers and fundraising for the ASRC - Peril magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My twenty-something-year-old niece Maria Nguyen feels helpless about how the ALP and Coalition governments deal with asylum seekers: \u2018It\u2019s gotten to this point where neither show much compassion to these people. It\u2019s almost no matter how you vote, you can\u2019t really change [things].\u2019 We are seated around the kitchen table at her house. Asylum seeker policy doesn\u2019t often feature as dinner conversation in our family, but the outcome of the latest federal election has spurred Maria into action. It\u2019s a fitness goal of hers to run half a marathon; she\u2019s slowly worked her way up to 8km with the Mother\u2019s Day Classic and now plans to do 10km. Unlike previous fun runs, this time she\u2019s raising money for refugees. With Kevin Rudd\u2019s PNG resettlement aspirations and Tony Abbott\u2019s Operation Sovereign Waters, refugees and asylum seekers have been at the forefront of my niece\u2019s mind, \u2018I just feel like now more Read More »\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peril magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-06T11:37:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-11-09T10:49:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Run-for-Refugees.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Thuy Linh Nguyen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/\",\"name\":\"Peril magazine\",\"description\":\"Asian-Australian Arts & Culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Run-for-Refugees.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Run-for-Refugees.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Maria Nguyen appealing to Peril readers to support her 10km run for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc\/\",\"name\":\"Run for Refugees: Maria Nguyen on asylum seekers and fundraising for the ASRC - Peril magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-06T11:37:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-11-09T10:49:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/a3eb809bb4734f3b90f640d77cbb66fe\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/topics\/run-for-refugees-maria-nguyen-on-asylum-seekers-and-fundraising-for-the-asrc\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Run for Refugees: Maria Nguyen on asylum seekers and fundraising for the ASRC\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/a3eb809bb4734f3b90f640d77cbb66fe\",\"name\":\"Thuy Linh Nguyen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peril.com.au\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0011dc5ae7b2921f1f72e22fa2d2666b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0011dc5ae7b2921f1f72e22fa2d2666b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Thuy Linh Nguyen\"},\"description\":\"Thuy Linh Nguyen reads and writes when she can. 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