Published: 16 November 2017
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Around 230 people, including several of Sydney’s religious leaders and community spokespeople, joined forces on Wednesday night for Together For Humanity Foundation's annual fundraiser dinner. Though Australians are jokingly known for their revered passion for sports, Australia is also recognised and celebrated for its diverse and multicultural population.
Together for Humanity is a multi-faith not-for-profit organisation that helps schools, organisations and communities to respond effectively to differences of culture and belief. The organisation achieves this by connecting students, teachers and community members with people from diverse backgrounds in an open, supportive and enjoyable setting. Since 2002 they have worked with more than 75,000 Australian students and teachers in their primary and secondary school presentations and workshops across Australia.
Foreign correspondent, author and MC for the night, Hugh Riminton, welcomed guests for the evening followed by Uncle Lex Dadd, a Darug elder who presented a stirring ‘Welcome to Country’ and also spoke of his introduction to Together for Humanity’s National Director, Rabbi Zalman Kastel, a meeting, he reflected, that taught him never to make assumptions about someone based on religion or race.
The NSW Minister for Multiculturalism and Disability Services, Ray Williams, also attendd on behalf of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, and spoke of Berejiklian’s personal understanding of the challenges of migration, of her parents and herself as a child moving to a foreign land, leaving family and support behind, learning a new language and having to recreate a new life.
During the evening guests were entertained by a band with students from Punchbowl Boys High School and Santa Sabina College. But it was the two keynote speakers who stole the night with their heartening and inspiring stories. Adam Kellerman, 27, a cancer survivor and disabled Olympian, spoke fervently about his personal challenges living with a disability but never with pity or self-deprecation.
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At age 13, Kellerman, a keen sportsman and soccer player, was diagnosed with an aggressive bone cancer. After years of treatment and the removal and replacement of his right hip, he took up wheelchair tennis and the now-world champion has represented Australia at two Paralympic Games, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
“I’ve learned that your experiences can either be a cause of suffering in your life or an opportunity to expand your life,” he said, recalling an injury that prevented him from training for two months prior to the 2016 Paralympics. “Instead I asked myself one of the single most empowering questions that anyone can ever ask themselves: What is the opportunity here? What is the opportunity that has risen from this seemingly negative event that has taken away one my dreams?”
Kellerman subsequently looked for ways to fulfil another part of his mission in life, “to inspire as many people as possible”. This included speaking to students and sharing his life experience about sport and health.
Homebush Boys High School Year Nine student, Bassam Maaliki, who in 2016 was accepted into the New South Wales Junior Parliament, spoke passionately about his inspiring social change campaign, #ubelong - a project to help foster a culture of welcoming and inclusiveness in the community and around Australia. Maaliki, aged 14, cleverly started his speech declaring who is he is by virtue of his positions, which alone was impressive for all of his achievements.
But Maaliki was also skilfully championing his own campaign. “Did you notice anything about my opening lines?” he asked the audience. “Many of the sentences start with ‘I am. … By stating that ‘I am this’ or ‘I am that’ simply means that I belong to something, an environment and that belonging has shaped me and who I am today and who I will become in the future. A statement that contains only three letters is so powerful especially to the youth of today.”
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Maaliki then went on to lament the fate of asylum seekers today, many of them his age, who may never get the opportunities that he has had to flourish. “So today,” he said, “I am the voice of asylum seekers, refugees and youth of multicultural backgrounds, most of which are still struggling to be heard. Their voices are loud and clear but not reaching the right people.”
Rabbi Zalman Kastel closed the night with humour, pathos and urgency. He began by explaining to the diverse audience how difficult it is to find an appropriate date for a dinner that comprises so many religious groups, but then segued to more concerning matters of youth isolation and mental health through true stories of loss.
Lastly, Rabbi Kastel outlined the three main priorities for the organisation. These being, educating teachers about how they teach young people in dealing with difference and supporting them with resources, perfecting and documenting the Together for Humanity model in NSW and expanding it to other states, and finally raising more funds to further the organisation’s scope.
“Let us seize the moment tonight to build trust and break down barriers between communities and ensure that the resources, be they financial or educational are in place to support the coming together of people with different beliefs and cultures.”
Main photo: Father Shenouda Mansour, Sheik Yousef Hassan, and Rabbi Zalman Kastel
All photos: Uri Windt
