Friends of Refugees - Moving Day 5

By Claire Dcunha

Humbling is probably the best word I could use to describe my experience on Moving Day. This was the first time I had ever participated in something like this so I didn’t know what to expect but I knew this is something I very much wanted to be involved in.  This desire to assist came about when Jack mentioned participating in Moving Day during one of the STAY meetings -  I'm glad I was able to make it to help out - what a rewarding experience it was!

I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by people who had previously participated and knew exactly what they were doing. My understanding was that this was the fifth time this was being carried out and what a massive effort it was from collecting donations, sorting them out and transporting them to refugee houses that really needed them. It was wonderful to see how people as a community freely volunteered their time to help people in need who they had never met. I was reminded of James 2:14-17 "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." How true this is!

The Company ‘Man with a Van’ donated a truck. We were also joined by Matt and Liam - 2 volunteers from the same company who did such great work helping out as there were quite a few locations to go to. Their patience and efficiency was nothing short of amazing!

We were able to go out to all the 8 houses on the list in a timely manner as Andrea and Nicole had worked on our route map – Regardless, it was still not an easy task as there were quite a few houses to visit in different suburbs. We were however, able to give a few items to each house which was really appreciated by the families. Among the donations were clothes, toys, cutlery and crockery, couches, beds, fridges, microwaves etc.  It was wonderful to see the smiles on people’s faces when they were given the donations. Finding the simple joys in the little things in life not taking anything that was offered to them for granted, I felt that some of the families were really appreciative of just us coming out to meet them and say hello as a few of them had come here by themselves and had left their families and all that they knew behind.

Among the houses we visited were three families, two of which were expecting their first child and one that had a baby aged 1 year and 20 days. We were able to give them some toys, clothes, cutlery and one of the families received a fridge. 

There were 2 other houses we visited and the people there really needed our help. In one of the houses lived 3 young men from Iran. When we met them we were greeted with smiles but we were surprised that they had absolutely no furniture, there were just empty rooms. It was like as if they moved in just a few days ago but they had been living there for 3 months.  It was really wonderful to be able to give them some jackets, shirts, pants, beds, couches, a microwave and a few other items. 

The last house we visited housed about 5 families but only had one bed room and bathroom and a lounge area. We were only able to meet 5 of the tenants who lived there. The only things I could see were a table to eat and shelves with a bit of cutlery. We were able to give them clothes, cutlery, couches among a few other items. I really wish we had more to give them as they really needed it but, as it was the last house there was not much we could do. One of the men at this property highlighted to me that this was the first sort of aid they had received since coming to Australia and all of them were really appreciative of the effort and hoped we could help them more.

I guess the part I found hard was when we had to say no to giving away some of the items to some refugees as we knew that there were other houses that needed it more and also not having enough to give. Donations clearly play a very large part in the whole process so it wouldn’t be right to close off without acknowledging all the donations that made it possible to give all these refugees a chance at having the basic life necessities that I know I take for granted like a bed, fridge and clothes.