COMMENT BY LYNNETTE LITTLE
PORT AUGUSTA — Recently, teenagers at the Baxter detention centre started classes at Port Augusta's high school. I want to write a positive story, as there are so many tragic events in the world at the moment. I have trouble with this being a good news story; it shouldn't be news at all, as the right to attend school should never have been denied to these children in the first place.
I was so happy at the announcement that they would be starting school, but not as overjoyed as the young people themselves, who have completed two weeks of schooling. It has been a roller coaster of emotions for everyone involved in getting them there, and there were a lot of us.
On March 16, the first day the detainee students were to start school, I had parked my car a good distance away from the main entrance of the Port Augusta High Middle School. In view were a number of students dressed in their maroon and blue school shirts and TV crews, as wells as a couple of members of the school staff.
A white van pulled up. Out came a couple of detention centre staff, and then the students, dressed in school shirts. Then came the sight that brought me, a grown woman to tears of pride and relief; the students hugging each other in welcome, engaging in polite discussion with those present, then turning toward the school and walking in. They walked in rows of three — each Baxter student embraced by their new found friends on either side. It was a beautiful and bold statement not only to the leaders in Port Augusta but to the leaders of this country.
The Baxter students want to share so much with you personally, but firstly they want to thank everyone for every letter, every phone call and every effort acting on their behalf. Because of the uncertainty of their situation they do not want to be named or quoted directly, but their message is simply that they are very happy to be at school, where they are being welcomed and included in everything. They feel so much better within themselves.
Why I am not sure whether this is a good news story is mostly because I am so angry that this basic right has been denied to them for so long. I am angry that their parents were not able to be there that first day, to see what I saw. I am angry that my young friends have all been locked in Baxter at all.
The schooling for the primary school students starts in early April and hopefully will be just as successful.
The detention centre still has many educational needs unmet. Is anyone teaching the blind man to read? Is anyone teaching the 17-year-old man who takes anti-depressants? Is there any way we can get appropriate therapy to the child with cerebral palsy who has been locked in detention for over two years?
This is a good news story, but it shouldn't be news at all; they should be free.
[Lynette Little is a member of the Port Augusta Rural Australians for Refugees group.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, April 9, 2003.
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