Rev. Nicholas Whereat's story
Rev. Nicholas Whereat shares his story of taking part in the End the Waiting Campaign, and the long road toward justice for people seeking asylum.
Kelli Hughes is a passionate advocate for, and supporter of people on the margins particularly refugees, people seeking asylum and First Nations peoples. Here, Kelli shares some of her story of being part of welcoming and advocating for people seeking asylum in Australia.
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My name is Kelli and I live on Ngunnawal country (Canberra). I worship with the Benedictus Contemplative Community whose members have been supporting the Sharifi family for many years. They were recently forced back into Afghanistan from Pakistan where their future is very uncertain.
Through Canberra Refugee Support and the Faith group of Refugee Action Canberra I’m involved in advocacy and neighbourly support for those arriving in our community.
Last year I responded to the call from Common Grace to organise prayer vigils outside the offices of our federal politicians as part of the #EndTheWaiting Campaign. I was joined by others from the refugee advocacy groups and held vigils outside the offices of two politicians. Alicia Payne (Member for Canberra) stood with us during the vigil and spoke at the end, offering her support for those who’ve fled their countries and sought a safe home in Australia.
For many years I supported Walid, an Afghan man who was on Manus then in Port Moresby but has been in Vancouver, Canada for the past 2 years. His journey of making a full life in freedom continues. His formal education before he fled Afghanistan as a 19 year old was very patchy so his transition to a developed country has been challenging.
Now that he has Canadian citizenship he was able to travel to Dubai last year to meet up with his childhood sweetheart, a nurse from Afghanistan, who met him there and they married. Her first attempt to get a visa to Canada has been denied but we are hopeful that her appeal will be successful.
The more I connect with people who have sought asylum in Australia, the more I respect their courage and resilience in spite of the hardships and trauma they have experienced. With support they become great assets to our communities and help us open our hearts and homes to be more compassionate and Christ-like as we welcome those whose lives have been so different to ours.
My prayer for the future is that as many politicians seek to blame immigrants and refugees for the economic challenges faced in Australia and many other countries, that we shall take to heart the message of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and provide a generous welcome.
📸 Refugee Action Canberra Group at their #EndTheWaiting prayer vigil outside MP Andrew Leigh’s office, August 2025 (Kelli Hughes standing to the right hand side).
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Join in taking action
Common Grace is launching the next stage of the #EndTheWaiting campaign at our 2026 Refugee Week Webinar. Sign up to join this webinar, co-hosted by National Council of Churches’ Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce (ACRT), on Thursday 18 June 7:30pm - 9pm, to find out how you and your faith community can join these calls to #EndTheWaiting.
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Common Grace is thankful to be sharing stories of welcome as part of Refugee Week 2026 celebrations of 'A Million Stories' to mark the remarkable milestone of Australia granting one million permanent humanitarian visas since 1947. Explore further stories below.
