Last Thursday, World Refugee Day was recognized globally. On Friday there was a visit by a group of students from Balga Senior High School - most of whom are refugees, enrolled in the Intensive English Language programme at the school. Scotch College boys have been working with students at Balga SHS for the past six years as part of the Year 10 Service Programme. While at Scotch for a few hours, the Balga students attended classes and experienced a very different school to their own.
Unfortunately a planned visit last Friday by Akram Azimi, the Young Australian of the Year, himself a refugee, had to be postponed. However, he has committed to visiting us and speaking to boys soon.
Visits of this sort are valuable in putting a human face on an issue that we recognize is important - but find hard to let it into our lives. Akram and the Balga students are part of the Australian story now and we need to know this chapter.
