Rethink Refugees - Najeeba's story

As Najeeba observes, "leaving your country for good is one of the hardest decisions you can be forced to make. It means a break with all that you know -- your family, your livelihood, your friends. All the familiar sights, sounds, smells and tastes..."

http://www.rethinkrefugees.com.au

Najeeba knows this only too well. As a young girl, many of her relatives and friends were killed by the Taliban.

With her parents, she fled the country. They were eventually crammed into a tiny fishing boat with 100 other people. Many days later, the Australian Navy finally escorted them to safety.

But Najeeba and her family were in for a shock. When they saw the barbed wire at Derby processing centre, they thought the Taliban had tricked them.
Life inside was tough. Finally, after months of uncertainty, the family was granted refugee status.

Now a student, Najeeba deeply appreciates the help she has received, saying: "many people have been like angels to us, full of caring and compassion. When people know my story, they always understand and I think feel proud to help us..."

To see the story behind the words is important

Hussain recalls his earlier life: "in Afghanistan, I was a shepherd and a farmer. We had a small house, very simple. We slept on the floor. Mostly we were happy with our life. All we really wanted was enough food and safety..."

But the Taliban made life very complicated. When Hussain refused to reveal his eldest son's whereabouts, they threatened to kill him.

http://www.rethinkrefugees.com.au

He had to leave his village behind without delay. He also knew that his wife and children would be much safer once he was gone.

He departed for distant Indonesia -- but was unable to stay and eventually found himself aboard a crowded boat to Australia.

When our Navy took him to Darwin, he finally felt safe. Although the Woomera processing centre was a bleak place, he found its guards to be "kind and good people".

After six years of uncertainty, Hussain and his family finally got their visas. They all love this country.

As he says, "Australia is the most beautiful place in my life. It is the first time my children are safe. It is the first place we have slept well for the whole night, without fear and bomb blasts..."

Rethink Refugees....

Yr 9 have recently looked at migration.... as I am hoping you have seen in the news, here is an interesting video from Australia.

Miss Udy

Year 7 - What I enjoyed this term

My term at Eltham Hill has been excellent. The things I enjoy are German. Geography and Technology. I am happy to come to school every day knowing that my friends are there to help me through each day, whether it is good or bab. Shayon - 7E

Thank you Shayon for your contribution.

Feel free to comment if you would like to say how you have enjoyed your start to school!

Miss Udy

QR reader

For those of you who do not have a QR reader on your phones you can use this web address....http://reader.kaywa.com/getit where you can download one on to your phone... I am not sure if it works on all mobiles - if not and you want to know, leave a comment and I can tell you what the message was!!!!!!!

Miss Udy

QR Coded message.....

For those of you who use iPhones or blackberry's and other phones I am sure, some of you will know what this image means... if you do, scan it and see what the message says! I'm testing it and would like to know if it works!!!!!

Thanks

Miss Udy

Visualising friendships - Social Network Mapping

Good evening!

I am sure you all use social networking (facebook, twitter etc etc!).

Here is a map which shows the locality of friendship - i.e. where people live relative to friends on facebook. Paul Butler was interested in seeing how geography and political borders affected where people lived relative to their friends. The lines you see in the in the map show real human relationships. Each line might represent a friendship made while travelling, a family member abroad, or an old college friend pulled away by the various forces of life.

A very interesting map that shows how Geography links to Social networking.... not just grid references and rivers! ;)

Ref: Visualising Friendships by Paul Butler. Seen originally from the BBC News website: Fa

cebook connections map the world

FYI - you can follow me on twitter at Miss Udy! Keep an eye on it... I will post questions, links, important information as well as other bits and pieces!

Andy's visit by Crystal Matarira 9T

When Andy came to visit on friday, he talked to us about his trip to the South Pole and his inspiration. He talked about the harsh conditions that he lived in and the hard work and training that he had to do.

Andy entered a competition for the expedition. He had to do mental and physical tests and the mental test was to ensure that he wasn't crazy.

He also told us about the dangers of going there.

I took everything into consideration and want to go on an expedition myself. His speech really inspired me and I really enjoyed it!

Crysal Matarira - 9T

Yeo Valley

A favourite advert of mine at the moment - the owl always makes me chuckle!

But, in all seriousness this is a good link for Primary Industries.

Yr 7 will have studied about employment types for the festival unit.

Yr 10/11 will need to link into Unit 2 - Working topics!

Task: Year 11/10 - How does this show diversification?

Miss Udy

Mr Antarctica man.......

Andrew Ledger made another visit to school last week. He met the current year 9 pupils during the day on Friday and once again made a massive impact.

He gave a similar talk to last time and the girls were engaged throughout - I will post up some more, but here is one of the images from the day!

A massive thanks to him for coming in for the day and inspiring the students so well!

Miss Udy