Friday, January 17, 2014 – Bendigo Weekly
NEWS • 5
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in peace Selemani studied mining at BRIT but the jobs which have come up are too far away. “We don’t want to be separated any more. Irakoze was by herself for two years with three children in a very dangerous place. We don’t have a lot of money but we have enough,” Selemani said. “We don’t go out very often but we are comfortable and happy here. “What you get, you eat, what you can’t get, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that our children are safe and we
tralia came to me from nowhere and offered me a passport. “Where did he come from, I asked myself? It was like a miracle. I look at what happens to refugees now on the boats and think how lucky I was. “I soon found myself on a plane heading for Australia and then I started crying. “Where is Australia? I didn’t know. It was the other side of the world. In my mind I thought I would end up in Europe.
The Koran tells us to live in peace and help each other. There are many similarities between Christianity and Islam have opportunities for their future.” Selemani’s philosophical position comes from a place where each day was lived in constant danger. The ethnic conflicts were escalating in Burundi and determined to get out he made his way to Mauritius in 2005. “There was no provision for refugees in Mauritius. I was praying every day for God to help me and then one day God sent a man to me –from Australia,” he said. “Through the United Nations the man from Aus-
“Bendigo feels like home to us now. My children have a safe future. We don’t worry about being a different colour. “Even in Africa people fight each other because of colour or religion. They hide behind religion to fight. “The Koran tells us to live in peace and help each other. There are many similarities between Christianity and Islam. “Mary, the mother of Jesus, wore a veil. Our women are simply being modest and following tradition. “Sometimes Irakoze gets
FOLLOWING TRADITION: Irakoze Nurah and Opese Yamba Ndikumana share a meal. lonely. We would all like a mosque in which we can come together and pray. We are starting from a dream, and will gradually build on the dream.”
Spain Madrid, the oldest child who has been sitting quietly on the couch, the child of Selemani and Irakoze’s courage, said he is not sure what he wants to do
when he leaves school, but he knows he wants to go to university. He has many good friends at school, plays soccer and is an excellent runner. If he were
Shepparton offers a welcome By ANTHONY RADFORD
SHORTLY after the 9-11 attacks, the Shepparton community united. It decided to hold an interfaith religious ceremony. “It was unusual to see the local catholic Monsignor preaching inside the local mosque,” Ethnic Council of Shepparton manager Chris Hazelman said. For the city, an hour and a half from Bendigo, this was nothing new. Shepparton has three mosques, with council recently approving a fourth, and a stunning Sikh temple. “It proudly started off with the Albanian community who built the first mosque in Victoria
in Shepparton in 1960,” Greater Shepparton City mayor Jenny Houlihan said. “The trowel that laid the first bricks in 1956 is in the Immigration Museum in Melbourne. “We are very proud of that history. “We also have a Turkish mosque, an Iraqi mosque and we have just issued a permit for a new mosque for the Afghanis. “To us it is quite a normal thing and does reflect the diversity of our community.” Throughout the 54-year history of the mosques, and the decades of community involvement beforehand, the locals have taken it all in their stride. “I believe everybody in our
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ONE OF MANY: The Turkish mosque in Shepparton
“Shepparton has its fair share of people who put that sort of stuff on facebook, but with four operating mosques and a Sikh temple, it largely goes unnoticed. “Shepparton is an example of
communities that arrive, they obviously want to follow their own faith and their aspirations to build their own centre and place of worship are no different to any other group.”
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community has the right to have a good and happy life,” Cr Houlihan said. “We have found the communities who run the mosques very, very welcoming. “In fact, the Sikh temple provides any travellers with accommodation and some food. That is a wonderful thing to have in your community.” Mr Hazelman said his organisation had started up bus tours of the mosques for locals. “We are trying to take people from mainstream society to places they usually wouldn’t go,” he said. “For a lot of people, it is their first time in a mosque. “It is easy to fall into some of the stuff you see on social media.
ever teased he says he would simply stand up straight and tall. He doesn’t say so but he could easily add the word “proud”.
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