Last time I wrote about refugees I got hate mail. I really did. Truely. Hate email from anonymous people to gutless to show their names. But I will not be silenced!!
This is my latest cushion. 
$5 from the sale of every cushion will go to Asylum Seekers Resource Centre. I don't want to get into a big rave about refugees and asylum seekers, but if you do plan on sending me hate mail read this first:
Myths busted here
I just want to say to asylum seekers you are welcome here. With open arms, with compassion and with any help you need.
Cushions available here.
When you posted that first refugee post I visited your blog for the first time and it was love at first sight. I knew then that you were my type of gal and I know now that i was right. You are ace Ms Chooky! Love mail from here. XX
ReplyDeletegood on ya girl, people need to know true facts before expressing such opinions hey. i didn't see your last post but i love the fact that you support people who need help, it's what we all should do and i love the cushion x
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. The media gives us such a distorted image of 1) how many asylum seekers there actually are and 2) the horrors they are escaping. Here here I say!
ReplyDeleteonly love mail from me too!
ReplyDeleteThat is one AWESOME cushion Cath. I L-O-V-E the message, L-O-V-E the sentiment, L-O-V-E the compassion... there is **SO** much to LOVE about this creative space today!
ReplyDeleteHooray for you creating something that will translate into helping others.
BRAVO!!!
... and yes - LET. THEM. STAY.
Good on you! When I went to Israel we saw the amazing things they were doing for the refugees. So many suffer such horrible things. xox
ReplyDeleteYou rock my socks, Chef's Wife. Awesome cushion...no hate mail from these parts!
ReplyDeleteGood on you Cath!!!
ReplyDeleteLove that cushion and I'm sorry you got so much negative feedback last time!!
Sad.
Awesome, i love it and the message behind it!
ReplyDeletegoodness me some people are infuriating!
ReplyDeleteyou'll only be getting love mail from me too ha ha!
love it! well done cath, refugees very welcome here too xxx
ReplyDeleteI think you should set up a stall in South Australia. Only kidding. I am a child of immigrants myself as are almost all people, as in a lot of cases most people in history if you read far enough. Cherrie
ReplyDeleteLove it! No hate mail from here either. I hope you sell a zillion of them.
ReplyDeleteYou rock Cath. I'm glad there are still people in this world willing to stand up and speak their minds, and to speak for those that have no voice.
ReplyDeletenot only welcome but sorely needed - what other wonderful things can we add to australia's eiderdown like pho !!
ReplyDeleteWell done Chooky - was right behind you the first time and this time i want your cushion in my car to counteract that 'We're full' sticker i see so much of... c&$ckheads...
love it
Only love mail from here as well. Fantastic cushion! Hope you sell stacks. xx
ReplyDeletethanks for this timely & compassionate post. We should always help those in need, it's a fundamental part of life. I do think most people feel this way and that the rest are not worth bothering with. Love Your Work xo
ReplyDeleteMy first impression when I saw that cushion was a certain somebody and his wife visiting a little inn in Bethlehem about 2011 years ago. I guess they were refugees in a way?
ReplyDeleteNothing but LOVE mail from me!!! I love the new cushion! You're the best Cath, I couldnt agree with you more and bravo to you!! xo
ReplyDeleteI'm sharing the love too....you have to do far better than that to offend me!!
ReplyDeleteYAH! You go girl! Good on you :) and huge raspberries to gutless commenters. Kx
ReplyDeleteDitto.
ReplyDeleteAnd, by the way, I'd love to see you engaging in discussion with the haters...but I guess that wont happen because they mustn't be 'out and proud' like you...I wonder what that suggests?
Magnificent!
ReplyDeleteMagnificent!
Magnificent!
Go you! Stand strong.
ReplyDeletePerfect.
ReplyDeletetoo cool!!!!
ReplyDeleteHate mail - are you serious? I despair of people sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThat cushion has brightened my day. Thanks for not only being compassionate but out and proud about it too!
RIGHT ON!!! and a big UP YOURS to the haters.
ReplyDeleteFunny actually, I just today bought a shirt from Amnesty as an anti-Christmas gift in support of boat people's rights. Across the front is the question, 'How far would you go for your family?'and THAT right there sums it up. ANYONE faced with the same situation would go to the ends of the earth for a better chance for thier families,
and it makes me sooo fking angry -yep, angry enough to swear when I hear people banging on about stopping the boats as though its nothing more than a political slogan. THESE ARE PEOPLE. THESE ARE PEOPLES LIVES.
All that is needed for evil to prevail....
Yay you for being a voice of reason amongst a chorus of stupidity, fearmongering and outright racisim.
xB
Fabulous Cath...hope you sell heaps.
ReplyDeletecath i LOVE IT!!!
ReplyDeletei cant believe you got hate mail?! asylum seekers are people, just like us and i get upset at hearing a minority saying that they shouldn't come here.
maybe you could send one to tony abbott?
You're only getting LOVE mail from me.
ReplyDeleteLOVE from these quarters, too. Go you!
ReplyDeleteGood on you Lovey!!
ReplyDeletex x
No hate-mail from me on this one. (or anythging for that matter!!)I'm loving the direction of your crafting Cath - this cushion is one of my faves I reckon - both message and design.
ReplyDeletex
Thank you. Perfect response :) x
ReplyDeletelove the way you are combing craft and charity with these themes! great work!
ReplyDeleteBack in the day when i was a society & environment teacher, i used to make sure there was some way i could incorporate this fact sheet into a lesson for each year group.
ReplyDeletei think it actually got through to a lot of kids.
...still working on several family members though!
Refugees are more than welcome at ours too. My project this week is to freezer paper stencil a shirt with those words - Let.Them.Stay!
ReplyDeleteI reckon you should do a pattern saying Racism F$%&ing suxs!
My views on the issue would probably get me labelled as a 'hater' or a 'racist' by groups like GetUp! and maybe even by you, but then I never take seriously people who dismiss an argument with an ad hominem attack, who play the man rather than the ball. I really don't appreciate intellectual laziness.
ReplyDeleteI acknowledge and respect the fact that your cushion is motivated by compassion for those less fortunate, but the question that I think you need to ask yourself is not just does it feel right, but is it right, i.e to let them ALL stay.
The answer, in my opinion, is no. But I'll let Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of 'Nomad' and herself a one-time Somali refugee in the Netherlands, explain why the answer should be no. The relevant part starts at 2:46, but the whole thing (including part 1) is worth a listen. By the way, the interview appeared on the ABC's 'Lateline' program in July this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks6NZV7rL-k&feature=related
The problem with the current government's approach to asylum seekers, as I see it, is that it makes Australia seem like a ‘soft touch’. I want immigration policy to be the responsibility of the elected minister for immigration. People smugglers should not be deciding who enters our country and in what numbers. Right now we (and your cushion) are effectively announcing to the world, using big neon lights (or red/white fabric), that Australia’s borders are for all intents and purposes OPEN, and that once you’re in you can stay and suck on the public teat...well... indefinitely. No wonder so many boat people bypass any number of other safe countries, often risking life and limb in the process, to come here. The question of whether these new arrivals are assimilating into our society and making a positive contribution seems to be of little or no concern. The end result of such a cavalier attitude towards immigration can be seen throughout Europe. I've lived in England and Germany and what I saw (and read about) was a growing fragmentation of society along ethnic, racial and religious lines, and I don't think it's xenophobic to be concerned that we might be heading down the same path.
Thank you for reading (and hopefully watching the youtube clip).
Simone
www.sosayssimmy.blogspot.com
(my now defunct blog - lest I be accused of being too gutless to show my face).
Oof I missed this post - I love you Cath!
ReplyDeleteAnd Simone - gah.
hmmm...i haven't been getting your blog updates on google reader..
ReplyDeleteonly LOVE mail here my friend.
♥
Hear, hear! Kids in detention centres, especially unaccompanied kids in a special detention centre in Melbourne? Who could possibly imagine that that's a good idea?
ReplyDelete