The Anglican Diocese of Grafton has been concerned for asylum seekers detained on Nauru and Manus Island since the Australian Government reopened the centres in 2012. Motions seeking justice and resettlement were passed through Synod and letters written to the relevant government ministers of the time. However, the government’s offshore regional processing policy continues.
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Now St Margaret’s Church in Bellingen and St Barnabas Church in Urunga are joining churches across the country in the #refugebell campaign to ring bells every Friday for each of the asylum seeker children detained on Nauru. The #refugebell campaign is co-ordinated by the organisation Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) who advise participants each Thursday of the number of children remaining on Nauru.
In September, St Eanswythe’s Anglican Church in Altona, in Mebourne’s west, began tolling a bell for each detained child. At the first vigil the bell tolled 95 times. Other Anglican churches in Melbourne, rural Victoria and in the Diocese of Wangaratta have now joined the #refugebell campaign.
Every Friday at 12pm churches will ring their bells until Universal Children’s Day on November 20, when the #KidsOffNauru national campaign (which includes about 300 organisations across the country) plans to project the image #KidsOffNauru and the faces of asylum seeker children on the sails of the Sydney Opera House.
Reported on October 22, the number of asylum seeker children effectively detained on Nauru has fallen to 52 as a result of medical evacuations to Australia. Another three children are detained in the Immigration Department’s Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation.
This is simple action, but powerful. The bells speak for children whose voices are not otherwise heard. The sound helps to sharpen the awareness of our communities to the plight of those still detained. The tolling inspires us to never give up on our detained brothers and sisters. Most of all we are called to love and care for our neighbours, who include aliens seeking shelter in our land.
