Why does SAIL exist

We do this in the hope and expectation that if, through no fault of our own, we were made to leave our country, our family, our house or our community that we too would be cared for and educated in the place that received us.

SAIL, to us, is a place to exchange cultures, stories and experiences - the currency of good faith and good will. We are proud that SAILors will share their past struggles and our present successes and future hopes with us as openly as they do. We believe that, regardless of background, everyone should be cared for when they are vulnerable. We try to apply this philosophy to SAIL students and tutors alike because, in our view, there are SAIL tutors and SAIL students in title, but not in practice.

We do SAIL because we feel that we are providing our students with a key to the door of Australian society. We greet them and welcome them and most importantly assist them as they come to know about their new country and try to settle in it. We are very mindful that with the vast array of talent among the children in particular we are mentoring a new generation of Australians, not just refugees. And, more importantly, we are helping people like ourselves, not foreigners.

On a more personal level, we SAIL because of the people that have become involved. The Sudanese SAILors are welcoming and so generously willing to share their lives and their families. By the same token we appreciate it that the non-Sudanese SAILors share our belief and energy in working towards a goal of inclusiveness.

To borrow the words of Chief Kulong Marial (from the Second Day of the Sudanese Dinka-Nuer West Bank Peace & Reconciliation Conference in 1999),
"Our gathering here is heard all over the world, in Khartoum and Juba, and many other places. ... there is no use in talking about past grievances. What we need to focus on is concrete actions to be taken to bring about peaceful co-existence between our peoples."

To us, the SAIL Program is also an example of the tyranny of distance disarming the tyranny of history. It is a very real example of people sharing their humanity, searching for sameness and feeding on commonality. We get the privilege of witnessing a celebration of the human spirit every Saturday.

And finally, we recall the words of our own National Anthem.
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all unite
To advance Australia Fair

To hear why other SAILors volunteer at SAIL please read this.

The following articles were written by the founders of SAIL -

After dinner address, National Value Education Forum,
Matthew Albert
(Ottoman restaurant, Canberra, 2 May 2005)

When I speak at primary schools, I make a point of explaining how it is that most refugees are forced to seek refuge. I tell the children of refugee friends of mine when I was living in Nairobi.
more

Acceptance speech,
Award Ceremony for the Ten Most Outstanding Young Persons of the World, World Congress of the Junior Chamber International, Matthew Albert
(Vienna International Centre, Austria, 25 October 2005)

“It is an immense honour to be receiving this award made more meaningful by being placed in the company of such notable contributors as the other honourees.
more

After dinner address, National Youth Constitutional Convention, Matthew Albert (National War Memorial, Canberra, 16 March 2005)

We are a privileged lot. Privileged by our freedom, our wealth and our education. With this good fortune, we are faced with a choice. We can flaunt our privilege or we can use it.
more

The “SAIL way of life”; a reflection on two years of the SAIL Program
By Matthew Albert

While everyone here turns up on a Saturday at 10:30am usually and leave somewhere between 12:30 and 1:30pm, Anna Grace and I never really leave SAIL. SAIL is not volunteer work to us, in fact it is not work at all, nor is it something to fill in a Saturday with. It is, in every sense, a way of life. And it is about the essence of this way of life that I want to speak tonight in celebration of SAIL turning two.
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2002 Human Rights Day speech - City of Banyule
By Matthew Albert

Firstly I want to wish everyone a happy human rights day since I am not completely sure how one does acknowledge such a day. The fact that such an occasion exists is both good and bad.
It is wonderful that we can come together and meditate together about what human rights are and what they can and do mean to us in such a safe and secure country such as our own.
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EUREKA STREET magazine
By Matthew Albert

Religious conflict covers the globe like water fills a tray. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Irish situation of years past and even the so-called War on Terror, at least superficially, feed on religious difference. World conflicts embrace peace rarely, often temporarily as opposing sides reconcile and rescind with depressing regularity.
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FARRARGO - Melbourne University Student Magazine
By Anna Grace Hopkins and Matthew Albert

Earlier this year, we headed down to Swanston Street to watch the Federation parade. We stood around as the floats went by and laughed along with the multiracial crowd of Australians as a guy inside a giant papier mache chicken walked into a traffic light.
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