Special Guest Post - My dad!

My parents have been taking English and computer lessons for quite a while now. Anyway, they have been typing word documents as part of their writing tasks and asking me to review them. This was one that my dad wrote for one of his first classes:

My Story

My name is Sap Dang. I was born in Vietnam. My family has six people and live in a poor village in South Vietnam.

When I was seven years old, I left my family and when to live with my Aunt in the province and I began school there. After I finished in primary school, I continued in high school for two years. After that I left the course because I didn’t have enough money to pay for studies. I stayed at home to help my Aunt to look after her groceries shop. Then I worked there until I was nineteen years old. I earned a lot of money.

I met my girlfriend when I was nineteen years old and we got married eight years later. Because during the time it was the Vietnamese war between South and North. I was a soldier South Vietnam when I was twenty years old.

In 1975 at the end April I lost my country and 1984 my family escaped from Vietnam by small boat on the sea. There was thirty eight people in a small boat including my family of seven people. For three days on the sea our boat went to Malaysia and we lived in the camp waiting sponsorship of brother-in-law from Australia.

In 1985 our family settled in Australia with humanitarian sponsorship by my brother-in-law. We very tired but we could not stop because we were in a new country where everything would be different. Also we were happy because we knew now our family was going to meet my brother-in-law and his family and we would get a new life in a free country and we hoped our new life in Australia would be happy for our family in the future. That is all I wanted.

I will show all these writings to my children in the future about their grandparents. My parents have been inspiring to me my entire life - I'm not articulate enough to express how much admiration I have for them and how they've shaped me as a person. They suffered much during the Vietnam war and during the times we spent as refugees in the UN-sponsored Malaysian camps. It would have been easy to be angry at the world but they had hope for their children and hope in humanity. They are good people - compassionate, kind-hearted, hardworking, appreciative of everything they've been given. :-)

Cooking in the Danger Zone

This is a great BBC show that is currently screened on SBS on Wed nights @ 7:30pm.

Tonight, Stefan visits India where the caste system is officially illegal but discrimination continues to be rife. Specifically, he visits Bihar where the poorest are exploited - the Dalits are the lowest rung of society and work hard for very little.

Anyway, it makes me incredibly sad and depressed to think of what the most exploited in all societies have to go through. How they find it to cope through life despite the discrimination and poverty.

I know it's better to be a do-er instead of moping around. Nobody wants my sympathies - they don't do much. They don't feed the poor and alleviate poverty in this world. But nonetheless, I can't help but feel sad when I see children eating only white rice for breakfast and dinner in the salty broth that it was cooked in because it's all that the family can afford. It's heart-breaking.

In any case, I wish I could do more in this world, you know. To distribute the wealth so that our most vulnerable can have better living conditions. I'm glad when I feel this sad, I can be inspired by those who are caring compassionate intelligent individuals (who do a lot more than sitting around being sad... sorry I'm such a sop sometimes).

Eavesdropping and running

I do a lot of travelling on the train - commuting to work & back and also, travelling to town and out west to see my parents and family. Relying on mass transportation means you end up sharing space with a lot of other commuters. Most of the time I just sleep or daydream but on the rare occasion, my ears perk up when they pick up debates of the political or philosophical nature.

The other night coming home from Friday night drinks, I heard these early 20-somethings students I think, talking about global warming and opposition to immigration to Australia. Anyway, I felt a bit guilty eavesdropping :-) but I was feeling slighty queasy and needed something to distract me. One of the girls was questioning the implications that will happen with Australia's ageing population and the detrimental economic effects of that. Long story short, her friends were telling her Australians should pop out more kids to offset the demographics shift but an increase in immigration is not another viable option. She then said something I totally agree with "But why not? We're a first world country that can take more migrants in... I feel Australian but I also feel like a global citizen and these issues should be solved on a global platform". You go girl!

That completely resonated with me. I know I'm Australian but I think I feel more connected with the rest of the world as well. When I think of politics and issues, I think of them on a global scale. I don't believe in jingoism and other nationalistic pride crap such as only buy Australian products etc.

Anyway, now moving on to running. I've become addicted to running. When I first set foot on a treadmill, I could barely run a minute without sweating like a pig and having a coronary. I was one of those people who had no idea why anyone would put themself through the pain, sweat and tears. But I've persisted with it to improve my blood pressure and now I love it so much! I ran 50mins straight the other day - that's my PB.

Running is addictive for me because the monotony and solitude appeals to me. Sometimes I daydream, other times I'm just singing along to my MP3 player but whatever is happening in my head, I feel completely relaxed. Then after the run, you get that runner's high and ravenous appetite of that of Survivor contestant. It's awesome! I'm training for a 10km run. Wish me luck! :-)

Refugees and Trees! :-)

Fan-fricken-tastic news about the changes in legislation for mandatory detention. Best news I have heard in a while. :-) Hip Hip Hurrah! This is a major victory for human rights in Australia. The following changes are to take place:

1. Unauthorised arrival asylum seekers will be detained for management of health, identity and security risks to the community

2. Any person who is complying with immigration processes and poses no risk to the community will not be detained in a detention center. The principle is that the Department will have to justify any decision to detain, not presume detention.

3. Children will never be detained in a detention centre

4. Once in detention, the need for detention will be reviewed by the Department every 3 months

5. The Ombudsman will review cases of detention after 6 months instead of 2 years

6. Excision will remain, but there has been no decision as to the boundaries of excision

7. The new detention center on Christmas Island will remain closed unless there is a large number of boat arrivals. Instead, existing alternative accommodation will be used. The old site at Phosphate hill has been readied for use. Fences around all but one compound have been removed

8. People processed under excision laws will be granted the same free migration agent advice (IAAAS) that asylum seekers on the mainland get. They will also have access to a new external merits review system. Not the Refugee Review Tribunal, but a new body. The specific details as yet unannounced

9. The Immigration Ombudsman will provide external scrutiny over the visa decision-making systems for people processed under excision laws

10. The government has released a set of Immigration Detention values "that seek to emphasise a risk-based approach to detention and prompt resolution of cases rather than punishment."

In my trees news, last Sunday was Planet Ark Plant a Tree Day and we planted trees in our local area. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun to be around with other tree hugging hippies (around 80 volunteers turned up and so many cute little kids with their gumboots and tiny little shovels!!) And then we had a free sausage sizzle! Yum yum!

Time at the Office

When I sit down at my desk in the morning, I can't help but smile. When I'm having a tough moment at work, I wobble Dwight's head and think "what would Dwight Schrute do in this situation"? Too damn funny. Thanks guys for getting these for me. I absolutely love them!!

ICRA Mentoring

IBM has a dedicated On Demand Community that encourages volunteers from IBM (from all business units, ages, diversity groups) to work with various community organisations such as the Smith Family and ICRA. I've been involved with both - online mentoring with the Smith Family and face-to-face mentoring with ICRA youths.

ICRA was founded by Fadi Rahman who started the centre for disadvantaged and marginalised Muslim youth in south-western Sydney. The Centre has the objectives of bettering the lives and improving the self-esteem of the youth in the community. In 2007, IBM came on board with eager committed volunteers and DIAC gave the initative the financial backing required. I was involved in the pilot in 2007 and due to the success, came on board again this year.

I've had two mentees - they are just the loveliest kids. Many people ask me what exactly we mentor these kids in - to be honest, every individual is different and has different needs. Some of them know exactly what they want - be it a high HSC UAI or get involved in an apprenticeship - and others are there just to listen to you talk about your own life and experiences. My specific mentees are both currently undertaking the HSC in 2008 and want to get the best marks possible. We have discussed issues such as motivation for school, dealing with difficult teachers, getting in trouble with the law particularly speeding, peer pressure,anger management, life beyond school. I hope I've offered some sage advice.

It's one of the most rewarding things I've done. I feel like I've made a small difference -to give a young person a different perspective on life and some skills to deal with difficult circumstances cause let's be honest, these kids have it tough. Just look at the complete racist bullshit that is happening in Camden at the moment. On a tangent, it's absolutely abhorrent that people have the temerity to be on national television sprouting disgusting racist bile. They might as well be wearing white hoods.

Back on topic, it's also really challenging for me but a wonderful feeling to build trust, respect and rapport in a mentoring relationship. I have learnt a lot from my mentees - how to be patient, a good listener, to be non-judgmental and to be a better person. I recommend volunteer work to anyone and to move outside your comfort zone. Also, they feed me dinner every Wed night - bloody yummy lebanese cuisine like falafel rolls with tabouli and hummous. :-)

Here's a link to the DIAC page with a quote from yours truly haha

The Kite Runner

My life is slipping away from me - I have nightmares about utilisation figures, resource shortages, ICAs, demanding project managers etc. Actually, it's pretty funny how consuming work really is. More specifically, this corporate lifetstyle stifling my creativity and truncating time that I can spend at the gym, with family or friends and me time! On the other hand, I've had a chance to do some really awesome mentoring programs that I will write up about later.

Anyway, I digress. I wanted to write about this book I had finished this week - the Kite Runner. Set in Afghanistan and later the USA about two childhood friends. I don't want to give away too much of the story other than to say it's a story of atonement (and not the stupid kind like in Ian McEwan's book). I really love politics you know, and how it affects people's lives. Without over-analysing myself too much :p, I think the fact that I started my life at the end of Vietnam war, the effects it had on my family, the fact we became refugees in a camp in Malaysia and eventually were granted asylum in Australia - all of these things make me empathise with people in war-torn countries. Anyway, the book is set against Afghanistan's turbulent recent history—the 1978 civil war, the Soviet invasion, the rise of the Taliban opposition, the tension between the Pashtuns and the Shiite Hazara - how these things affected these two boys lives and their families.

It's a well-written simple book to read - I read it quickly over two nights. It's profoundly sad, the pages are tear-stained (I don't know how I will handle the movie). But I'm not entirely happy with the tidy endy. I don't know.... let me know what you think. I'd give it 3.5 stars because the ending ruined it for me.

It’s so depressing to think about war - we have a world history of atrocities committed against humanity. And when you think about it quite simplistically, and I try to keep in mind that every conflict in every part of the world is different in its own way, it comes down to power struggles and economic interests at the cost of human lives. Sometimes I laugh at my naivety but maybe if Russia permits Chechen independence, if Israel permits Palestinian independence and if China permits Taiwanese independence…I mean who knows? What will be the outcome? Seen as an appeasement but somehow, the idea of not addressing other people’s grievances and understanding their motivations, it doesn’t work as a long term strategy, and certainly if we want to seek real peace and an end to carnage, doesn’t empathy help? It’s not like we all carry around these hate genes, these fixed biological factors, that make it impossible for us to co-exist in harmony with one another. I think that’s what is most sad for me, that the possibility of peace is real, well I truly whole-heartedly believe in it. I don’t know world politics, ongoing conflicts, this endless cycle of violence, they all do my head in and makes me feel helpless. Especially, when you switch on the television and all you see are these innocent children crying and covered in blood. It’s so far removed from the men who sit around conference tables making decisions that impact on civilian lives. It breaks my heart every time *sigh*