City in mission to save orphans

Jessica Benton
A Geelong community organisation is battling red tape and financial hurdles to rescue five African orphans from war-torn Sierra Leone.
Multicultural services provider Diversitat wants to reunite the five children aged 12 to 16 with their aunt, Kaddie Perry, who lives in Geelong.
The children have lost both parents to war in the African country after witnessing the torture of their father and the death of their mother.
Diversitat settlement grants program worker Antoinette Siketa said the case was “extreme” because the children were not Ms Perry’s immediate family but were at “serious risk” in Africa.
“We’ve had to get this case prioritised by the Offshore Humanitarian Processing Centre, in New South Wales, and referred to the Australian Embassy for further processing because they recognised that the children were at serious risk overseas and in desperate need of reunion with their aunty and resettlement in Australia,” Ms Siketa said.
“However, priority for refugee and humanitarian visas is focused on reuniting immediate family members and, while Kaddie is prepared to be the parent figure to the children, she is not their mother.
“Kaddie has four children of her own, no partner and has only recently arrived in Australia as a refugee. She cannot support the children financially, which is what the orphaned relative application calls for.”
Ms Siketa said officials interviewed the children on Wednesday, with medical examinations to follow.
The Australian Embassy would then decide whether it would grant the children visas for resettlement in Australia.
Diversitat settlement services and community programs manager Tony Jenkins estimated the cost of bringing the children to Australia at $11,000.
Mr Jenkins said Diversitat’s new Family Reunion Support Fund program would help pay for the project.
He appealed for extra financial support from the Geelong community.
“We’re a non-for-profit charitable organisation and don’t have the funds to cover costs associated with cases such as this one,” he said.
“We’re simply facilitating a humane response to the reunification of families whose settlement in Australia is being severely affected and who are seriously financially disadvantaged. This is particularly obvious in Kaddie’s case.”
Mr Jenkins said about 100 refugees of war or political unrest in their countries had already been allocated to Geelong over the past 12 months.
Most recent entrants had fled persecution in Burma after escaping across the border to Thailand.
Mr Jenkins asked anyone wanting to donate to the orphans’ fund to phone him at Diversitat on 5221 6044.