What Australia Day means to me

After seeking refuge in Australia as a young girl, Claire Uwimana, part of Anglicare’s Multicultural Program shares why Australia Day has a special meaning to her.

As we prepare to celebrate Australia Day many are looking forward to – a relaxed day off work celebrated with a barbecue at home, watching the cricket, heading to the beach and getting together with family and friends.

And for many of our first peoples, it is a sad reminder of the loss of sovereignty, loss of culture, land and family, a loss that has had ramifications for generations.

But there is a special meaning to people like me who have embraced Australia from another world.

Arriving in Australia as a young adult in 2003 was a challenging, but rewarding and life changing experience that has shaped the person that I have become today.

Leaving a country torn apart by civil war and genocide and arriving to the safety and beauty of this wonderful country can only be understood by those who have experienced such a contrast of worlds. I grew up in Kigali, capital of Rwanda where I went to school with mostly Rwandan children who spoke the same language and had very much in common. At the age of 13 I experienced the horror of a civil war and genocide against the Tutsis. In 2000 my younger sister and I left Rwanda and we experienced the life of a refugee, after three years in Zambia we were lucky enough to receive resettlement to Australia.

Our first home in Australia was a unit in Moorooka, where the people were mostly welcoming and friendly. Others told us to “go back to where you came from”. Advertisement

We met people from all walks of life, different countries who spoke different languages, had different cultures. We made friendships with good people, who could see the value in Australia becoming a more multicultural society.

On Australia Day of 2006, my sister and I proudly attended our citizenship ceremony at the Brisbane City Hall alongside 500 other refugees and migrants who were welcomed as new Australians. We pledged our loyalty and happily became citizens of this amazing country.  It was a sensational moment one that we always celebrate on Australia day!

It was not just the economic position of Australia that made it such a great nation for us it was more than that, it was the freedom from fear, it was a fair go for all, it was the future of our unborn children. We then had the right to hold an Australian passport, to vote, to have an education and most importantly to live in a peaceful country!Advertisement

Being a new arrival is by no means an easy process, we have had to endure hardships and challenges both from outside and within our own community. It can sometimes take a generation or two for a communities to find its own feet and place in Australian society. I have had the privilege of meeting people from all walks of life, faiths and backgrounds and share with them among other things stories of resilience and contribution migrants and refugees make to Australia.  This country has given me so much and in return I give back in whatever way I can.

With many others who now call Australia home, I am thankful to the generosity and warmth of so many fellow Australians who help make this country one of the best in the world. This Australia Day, in particular, I will be thinking of the asylum seekers who also left their war torn lands in search of a better life.

My thoughts will also be with the Aboriginal community who still seek justice and prosperity in their own land. I pray that 2018 will be a year where we can feel proud of the progress we have made in these areas. This Australia Day, I will reflect on where I have come from, appreciate where I am today and look to the future with much hope for peace and justice for all.

Photo by Peter Gunders – ABC Southern Qld. Australia day 2013 Claire Uwimana