Pioneering surgeon inspires with refugee tale
Dr Munjed Al-Muderis, one of three surgeons worldwide to develop a revolutionary surgery for amputees, spent time passing through solitary confinement and prison as a refugee in an Australian detention centre.
Fairfield
Don't miss out on the headlines from Fairfield. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Dr Munjed Al-Muderis, one of three surgeons worldwide to develop a revolutionary surgery for amputees, spent time passing through solitary confinement and prison as a refugee in an Australian detention centre.
He was fleeing Iraq after refusing a request to cut the ears off three busloads of army defectors – an act of defiance towards the Saddam Hussein regime that put his life in jeopardy.
Dr Al-Muderis regaled his story to 200 people as the keynote speaker of this year’s Refugee Communities in Cultural Transition forum at Fairfield RSL. He addressed a crowd representing 20 different refugee communities candidly, politically, sensitively and sometimes comically, detailing the challenges refugees face and the promise they hold.
“I’m not dissimilar to many stories here in the room. I ended up being on a boat to Australia, not because I wanted a better life, but because I was in fear of being killed,” he said.
“I was called names (in the detention centre), among them 982, but never being called by my name … But the way I was raised up, I always look at the glass half full, to always see the benefit of any situation I’m in and to never feel sorry for myself.”
It’s no coincidence the two day event took place in Fairfield last week. Fairfield City has accepted more refugees than any other district across Australia. About 7000 – mostly from Iraq and Syria – have settled in the area within an 18-month time frame, both placing a strain on the area’s resources and inspiring the locals to launch a flurry of charitable initiatives.
Dr Al-Muderis described Australia’s response to the global refugee crisis as disappointing.
“It really disheartens me now when I see refugees, the way they get treated, and we are 20 years from the time I was in detention,” he said.
“Things have gone downhill and gotten worse, and it shouldn’t because people should move forward.”
The orthopaedic surgeon, who is also a Squadron Leader in the Australian Air Reserve, an Ambassador for the Australian Red Cross and a human rights advocate through affiliations with Amnesty International and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said refugees have a responsibility to help build the country they settle in.
“We need to prove to Australia that we deserve to be in Australia. We need to stop feeling sorry for ourself (sic) and we need to work,” he said.
“The way I was brought up is that work is an honour. And a person that is able to work and chooses not to is a person that has no honour.”
But his most common rationale for accepting refugees was one of economics, as he drew distinctions between Australia’s policy and those of Canada, Singapore and Germany.
“Germany is one of the countries in Europe that’s very ageing, and you need three people who are working to support one not-working person. And Germany is one of the oldest nations.
“And within the blink of an eye, (Chancellor Angela Merkel) changed the demographic of her country.
“They took a lot of refugees in from the Middle East. And these refugees are coming with skills. They’re young and they all have children.
“Everybody eventually will end up having children that become locals, that become Aussies and Germans. That would support the country and build a nation,” he said.