Please join the #Ballarat Silent Vigil to-day with Kath and Maureen of Ballarat Rural Australians for Refugees and Grandmothers Against the Detention of Refugee Children Ballarat

For a long time now, two #Ballarat octogenarians, Kath Morton and Maureen Doonan, of Ballarat Rural Australians for...
Posted by Brigid O'Carroll Walsh on Sunday, 14 February 2016

JOIN THE FREEDOM RIDE TO GET THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT TO RELEASE ALL CHILDREN FROM DETENTION - AN EVENT FROM GRANDMOTHERS AGAINST THE DETENTION OF REFUGEE CHILDREN

PLEASE JOIN GRANDMOTHERS ON THIS EPIC JOURNEY 

TO RELEASE THE WORLD'S CHILDREN 

IMPRISONED BY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT 

Please download this poster and promote The Freedom Ride. 

This event is significant 

and we need to mass as many people as possible for the sake of the children. 

Australia has gone down a path of shame with the indefinite detention of refugee children - 

no matter what successive Australian Governments have said.

Free the children.

Do your best to overcome Australia's shame.

Join the Freedom Ride to Canberra being organised by the Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children in March.

Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children Ballarat are participating - with other Grandmothers groups in...
Posted by Brigid O'Carroll Walsh on Friday, 22 January 2016

In a video appealing to the Australian government, released on Wednesday evening, a group of about 35 children sit...

Posted by Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children Ballarat on Thursday, 21 January 2016

Number of Children in Detention : Knit Bashira Freedom Dolls for Children in Detention

The post below comes from the blog of  

Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children - Bendigo

Number of Children in Detention 

Despite the Government’s promise that children would be released from detention in the early months of 2015, there are still hundreds of children in Australian-run immigration detention centres. Many of these children have been in detention for years.

The Government’s latest statistics, dated 30 December 2015, reveal that:

• 91 children remain in IDC/APODs, IRH and ITA facilities within Australia.
• 68 children held in Nauru
• 329 children are in detained in community under residential detention
• 3,983 children still in the immigration system – e.g. on Bridging Visas, etc
• • NB APOD Alternative Place of Detention
  • IDC/F Immigration Detention Centre/Facility
  • IRH Immigration Residential Housing
  • ITA Immigration Transit Accommodation

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Children out of detention – FAQs – information supplied by the Australians Greens

==========================================================

Beautiful Bashira Freedom Dolls from the Tassie Nannas 

Bashira Freedom Doll Pattern – pdf file

Bashira Freedom Doll Pattern – Word Document file

Grandmothers and FroGs - along with Rural Australians for Refugees - remembered Tampa yesterday.

Crossposted from The Network
Yesterday, Grandmothers Against the Detention of Refugee Children - Ballarat (GADRC - Ballarat or Grandmothers Ballarat) accompanied by Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) remembered the Tampa. Thx to Ian Hall  (part of our community at St Paul's) for his contribution to the slideshow below.  And please note the presence of Father Constantine.  He is a FroG.  The males among the Grandmothers - are called FroGs = Friends of Grandmothers.

Every child is our responsibility - join the Grandmothers to-morrow night at #Ballarat Town Hall

From Hayley, BRASSN Volunteer Database Co-ordinator...

Here are three pieces of information for you being passed on from BRASSN (Ballarat Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support Network). The first is a link to an ASRC Newsletter titled 'Are we doing enough'? The second is a Light the Dark vigil held in Ballarat this Monday at 6pm. The third is from BRASSN member David McPhail, who will be participating in the Run 4 Refugees with a Ballarat team.


1. Are we doing enough?http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=82e876b44181fbd9253ccb957&id=767d0e716d&e=bb7f6d4f6a

2. Subject: IMPORTANT Come and join us to Light the Dark for Aylun

• Sorry for the late notice but this event has just been advertised by Get Up and so the
• Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children Ballarat (https://www.facebook.com/GrandmothersBallarat) and their Friends invite you to join them outside the Ballarat Town Hall 6pm Monday 7th September at 6pm to Light the Dark. We will stand in solidarity with people throughout Australia who support refugees and asylum seekers. Please bring a candle or torch.
  
  The image of a Syrian child's lifeless body washed up on the shores of a Turkish beach this week brought the world to its knees. His name was Aylan Kurdi, and he was just three years old.
  
  The sad reality is that Aylan was one among millions of desperate people forced to flee from war and persecution. The world is facing a global refugee crisis on a scale we've not seen since WWII, but Australia - our lucky country of a fair go for all - is not doing enough. We can do better to help these people.
  We need to do better.
  
  That's why on Monday night, we will light a candle to remember Aylan Kurdi. We will stand together in solidarity with ...people across the world who are forced to ask for protection from countries like ours. We'll shine a light in the darkness, in protest of our country's abandonment of the world's most desperate people, who seek only safety and protection.
  
  We will send a message to the world that our government's inaction does not represent us, and that Australia says welcome.
  
  
  3. Ballarat Run 4 Refugees running the Melbourne Marathon. Sponsor David Mac Phail to raise funds for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
    Would you like to support the ASRC by sponsoring our marathon and by circulating this email through your networks.

  I am running Melbourne Marathon again this year with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre [ASRC]. We now have a Ballarat team which includes asylum seekers and refugees. Sophia, my daughter, is also running her first marathon with us. Ballarat Run 4 Refugees is raising much needed funds for Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

  
  

  ASRC gets no government funding and is completely dependent on fundraising. Last year Run 4 Refugees raised about $250,000 which was about the amount spent on accommodation.  In my role as volunteer Case Worker with ASRC I am able to say first hand how well this money is used for people who are otherwise homeless. 

  
  

  For 14 years the ASRC has been fighting for the human rights of asylum seekers. Over 10,000 people have been provided with sanctuary, support and hope by the ASRC in this time and thousands of people have won their freedom through this work. Your donation will help provide services to support people seeking asylum: legal appointments, housing, health care, employment services, English language classes, food and advocacy.

  
  

  You can make a donation by clicking on the link below to go to my fundraising page. There is also links to the ASRC web page for more information about the organisation.

  
  

  My fundraising page:  http://run4refugees15.gofundraise.com.au/page/ballaratr4r

  
  

  Hope you can sponsor me again this year.

  Thanks for your support,

  David

  
  

  David Mac Phail,
  Ballarat.
  0419368199.

Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children - Ballarat - Calendar, 2015

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2015

Monthly catch up with a coffee morning on the last Wednesday of the month.Venues to be decided...
Posted by Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children Ballarat on Tuesday, 4 August 2015

Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children - from Ballarat and from Melbourne Ports : World Refugee Day, City Square Melbourne.

Life last week was very busy - keeping up, or trying to keep up  
with the wonderful round of events for Refugee Week in Ballarat.  
Refugee Week culminated for The Editor in joining  
The Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children - Ballarat

for the World Refuge Day event on Sunday 21 June at City Square Melbourne.

 

Grandmothers ready to train to Melbourne - The Editor is on the left.

 For more pictures of the wonderful event at City Square, please go here.

Below is an embedded post  plus an extra link to the Billy-Lids song.

This song comes to us from Grandmothers Adrc -  Melbourne Ports.

Great song. See who you can recognise. To me, Margaret Roadnight's voice is instantly recognisable.Thanks to Brigid Walsh for introducing me to this group of Artists.
Posted by Denis Wilson on Tuesday, 23 June 2015

And there is another interesting site for the song here