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Couple recognised for refugee work

Jan 28th, 2012 | Advocacy | Comment

Annemarie Evans writes in SCMP – Jan 26, 2012

As the Australia Day 2012 Honours List is announced in Canberra today, two Hong Kong-based awardees will be on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, helping executives see how it feels to step into the shoes of a refugee. Four times a day over five days, Australians Malcolm and Sally Begbie will be introducing, among others, the Europe boss of Yahoo, Rich Riley, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee and the CEO of JPMorgan Private Bank, Andrew Cohen, to a simulated “Refugee Run”. They will try to cross international borders, be interrogated by soldiers, internally displaced or kept in holding camps. It’s an activity that the two co-founders of Hong Kong charity the Crossroads Foundation and their team have been carrying out in partnership with the UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, since 2009, and it is for their services to humanity that the Begbies are recognised as Officers of the Order of Australia today. The honour has been conferred on them “for distinguished service to the international community in the provision of humanitarian relief, particularly through the Crossroads Foundation, and as a significant contributor to United Nations”.

“It’s extraordinary, we can’t quite believe it,” said Sally Begbie, 60, from Davos. The organisation, which the couple founded in 1995 with some boxes of flood relief goods in their bedroom, has mushroomed into a series of projects run from their site at Tuen Mun by 70 workers, including their two sons and daughter-in-law. The Begbies said they were undeserving of their award. “We’re painfully aware of the extent of global need, people starving to death, abused,” said Sally Begbie. “There are 43 million people globally who are international refugees or internally displaced. In that sense we feel undeserving. We only make a small dent. “A big piece of this has been the generosity of the Hong Kong people and the government allowing us to operate at a rent of HK$1 a year.” The Begbies are in Davos with a team that includes former refugees. Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales and business magnate Richard Branson previousy took part in the Refugee Run. While several groups are in Davos to criticise the forum, and capitalism, as economies slump, the Begbies prefer to influence by example. “If we can impact the thinking of these people, then it is a wonderful thing,” said Malcolm Begbie, describing how one chief executive, after a Refugee Run, took “all of his international leadership to a Thailand refugee camp for a day”. “We grieve whenever there is a downturn in the economy,” said Sally Begbie. “The most vulnerable people are going to be impacted by that.”

 

The Refugee Run border crossing

Charter for Compassion

Jan 24th, 2012 | Advocacy | Comment

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women – to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion – to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate – to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures – to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity – to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings, even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

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I believe that at every level of society – familial, national and international – the key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. I try to treat whoever I meet as an old friend. This gives me a genuine feeling of happiness.  This is the practice of compassion. – Dalai Lama

The Golden Rule
The Golden Rule - a poster hanging at the United Nations HQ

Changing hatred into reconciliation

Jan 16th, 2012 | Advocacy | Comment

My name is Jonathan and I’ve been a refugee in Hong Kong since 2009. Truly, we don’t like being here because we miss our family and country. If we had a calm, peaceful homeland, we wouldn’t be here. The main reasons for persecution are two – political and religious. Personally, I escaped my country because I was a political activist from my university days. After graduation the policies of the government we had supported drifted badly. They wanted every power to benefit themselves, not the people they should be serving. We realized that we couldn’t support them anymore. At my first job with a telecom company (half government owned) my boss surprisingly knew everything about my past. He pressured me so relentlessly that he chased me out of the job. I was supervising a city branch, when an issue came up where I had to endorse the crediting of phone lines for the World Food Programs. However, a senior manager snuck onto the WFP billing telephone numbers for a construction company. This scam was brought to my branch trusting I would keep my mouth shut. I instructed the casher to add these numbers to WFP’s bill, as I knew what the consequences were if I refused.

However, WFP complained about it and an investigation started. A panel was called to explain what we knew about this situation. They zeroed into me and accused me of being incompetent. I knew they had always looked to firing me and this was an easy way to scapegoat me. At my second job I was working for a driving license project under the Ministry of Works and Transports. My boss, who used to be my junior, suddenly ended my contract and explained this was something that was beyond her control as it came from higher up. This came on the heel of threatening phone calls, like, “Watch your step! You will get hurt! It’s not worth your life!” I was warned this was my last chance to come to my senses as I was very active with an opposition party. One night my home was ransacked and everything destroyed. I lived with heightened fear that I would be kidnapped or shot in the streets. My family advised me to withdraw from politics, as I had nothing to benefit if I got killed. Even my uncle, a high ranking military officer, advised me to find an activity that kept me out of trouble with the government. Closer to the summer elections, the phone threats escalated, “If you don’t care about yourself, then make arrangements for your family’s funeral!” I knew life was cheap for these animals with guns.

Visiting a family happily housed by Vision First
Visiting a family we have happily housed

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Never doubt …

Jan 4th, 2012 | Advocacy | Comment