Our future is in good hands as young writers Sejal, Darshanik come up with powerful ideas
THE remarkable insight and knowledge of local students in tackling complex issues including indigenous matters, the Stolen Generations, religion and race, has been recognised at state level.
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THE remarkable insight and knowledge of local students in tackling complex issues including indigenous matters, the Stolen Generations, religion and race, has been recognised at state level.
It also provides a rich vein of hope for our future that the next generation, contrary to public perception, is up to the challenges of making our world a better place.
Sejal Madan, 15, and Darshanik Aryal, 10, are the winners in different competitions after penning powerful entries.
Sejal, from Beaumont Hills, is also the youngest winner of the NSW Premier’s Multicultural Media Awards after her poem I See Humans But No Humanity about the Stolen Generation impressed the judges.
The 15-year-old Girraween High School student won the award with a poem about the intergenerational injustice suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Darshanik, a student at Ironbark Ridge Public School, took out the Year 5-6 category in the 2016 Whitlam Institute What Matters? Competition for NSW/ACT.
With a record 3754 entries for the competition, Darshanik’s achievement is even more impressive, the organisers said.
Nicholas Raphae of William Clarke College, was the Year 11-12 runner-up in the competition, for her story Character Matters.
Sejal said it took her a week to flesh out her winning entry which had been submitted for NAIDOC Week last year.
“I studied about Aboriginal experiences and got fascinated by how the Aboriginal people were treated when the Europeans landed in Australia,” Sejal said.
“NowI plan to help those who don’t have a voice when I finish HSC.”
Darshanik wrote a first person’s story about living in a harmonious Hindu-Christian home.
The Stanhope Gardens boy said he “bounced off ideas off my parents before writing my story”.
“I was very surprised when I found out at school that I had won this competition,” he said.
“My father is a Hindu and my mother a Catholic and both my brother and I have been baptised and go to church,” he said.
“Dad talks about Hinduism and Sanskrit and we have a lovely family life.”
In his essay, the youngster poses meaningful questions.
“Our family created harmony by showing respect and love for others even if they don’t share the same beliefs as us,” he wrote.
“If we created harmony in our house, why is it so hard for the world to create peace?”
Winning entry of the NSW Premier’s Multicultural Media Awards by Sejal Madan
I See Humans But No Humanity
They saw us as some sort of
Lingering pest,
Tried to get rid of us
To clean the mess
Of blacks amongst white
We apparently weren’t the same,
Not human but animals,
Wandering insane.
Just because we didn’t dress
The way they wanted us to,
Just because we didn’t talk
The same language they do.
Just because we treat
The land as our own,
Just because in our hearts
Australia is our home.
We tried to make things right,
By protests and songs,
We tried to raise our voice,
But they were too strong.
They took our land,
Our culture and children,
Told us it was for our own good,
For our own protection.
We then started riots,
Led by brave’s like Pemulwuy,
To stop the inequality,
Stop them from making us their prey.
We went on Freedom Rides
And finally got some rights,
But the struggle stayed the same,
It was just too much to fight.
Eventually they listened to us,
And saw where we stood,
Apologised and lent out a hand,
Told us to forget the past,
Oh if only we could!
If only we could forget the way
Our loved ones had died,
If only we could forget the way,
We were hung and tied.
The hand looked warm though,
Promising, forgiving,
We didn’t really have a choice,
We shook it for our living.
We are now among the rest of you,
Damaged but moving on,
Starting to live our old lives again,
Oh Australia, it’s been too long!
Competition year 5/6 winning entry by Darshanik Aryal, Ironbark Ridge Public School
Harmony Matters
I heard gunfire. I saw people running to survive. Another sad day on the news. Why? Why do people have to be killed in the name of religion? So many people, innocent people, so many deaths, deaths in the name of religion. Sometimes I wish the news did not exist. It carries so many sad memories.
I do not see any need to kill someone based on the colour of their skin, eyes and hair or their religion and culture. We all have a right to respect others and to be respected. Everyone must be treated equally and fairly. We must have peace in the world.
Look at my family, for example, we truly show that almost anything is possible. We created harmony amongst two totally different religions.
I was born in a family with parents from two different religions, two different languages, and two different ethnic groups.
Both my parents speak to each other in their second language; they never communicate using their own mother tongue. My parents were engaged in the Hindu tradition yet they were married in a church as my mother is Catholic.
My father gave my brother and I both Sanskrit names, yet he was there at church when my brother and I went through the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, and the Eucharist.
We don’t eat beef at home as it is a part of his religion and we respect that, but he does not mind when my mum, my brother and I eat beef outside. My father may be Hindu, but that does not stop him from going into a church.
Having a different religion to others doesn’t mean that you cannot create harmony. Our family
created harmony by showing respect and love for others even if they don’t share the same beliefs as us.
If we created harmony in our house, why is it so hard for the world to create peace?
We create peace at home, at school, and in our community without even knowing. We show respect for other cultures by complimenting their food and cuisine.
We show respect to their traditions and beliefs. It is that easy all we have to do is show respect. If we can do it in the mains of our home, why is it so hard for the world?
All the world has to do is stop interfering with other cultures and religions. No conflict would be
caused and there would be no need to start a war. Many people across the world regret what they have done and how it has impacted the world.
The world should know; violence is wrong.
The world should not fight. We should be in harmony. Almost every day I fear for those who are targeted because of who they are. There are still people out there who think that only people from their own kind are perfect.
If we can create harmony in a house, we can shape tomorrow’s future.
Let’s make tomorrow a better world. Together we can create peace and harmony.
Harmony matters and always will.
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