Day 4

 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:17

In these times of isolation, we have been reminded of the importance of human connection. Imagine if the only means to speak to your loved ones was taken away. The government is trying to pass a law that threatens people seeking asylum’s access to mobile phones. For those who are in detention, their phones are a lifeline to hope. My client in detention told me that “it will break us if they take our phones away. The phone is the only good thing that we have. I can talk to my son on video and feel like I’m there with him even though I’m not”.

Jesus calls us to take action to welcome those in need. What will you do to welcome our brothers and sisters who are seeking asylum?

Take Action

Take action by signing a petition to stop the government from confiscating mobile phones from people seeking asylum in detention. You can also call the office for the acting Minister for Immigration, Alan Tudge, to ask him to release people seeking asylum from detention.

Rachel Saravanamuthu is a Senior Solicitor at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. She is a Sri Lankan Tamil woman who was born on Kuring-gai country in these lands now called Australia.