AAS-Au President's Message for October 2023
The past two weeks have been traumatic for our entire community. I want to start off by passing on our condolences to those who have lost loved ones in the Baghdede tragedy.
I also want to remind our community that it is important to be aware of our own mental health and take time to pause from social media, which can at many times, be detrimental to our wellbeing.
As I wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, we visited Canberra during the week to meet with the Department of Foreign Affairs and also with the Australian Foreign Minister's Office.
We passed on our needs and requests, including aid assistance and an international investigation. These requests were tabled at a community meeting on Friday and discussed among each-other.
What is most pleasing to me personally was that our group was represented by two young emerging Australian Assyrian leaders in Barseen Oshana from Assyrian Australian Association and Richard Yalda from Assyrian Students' Association of Australia. Our youth are our hope.
I want to pass on a special thank you to Rabi Hermiz Shahen from Assyrian National Council - Australia for organising the meeting and accompanying us. We are grateful for your efforts. I also want to thank Chris Bowen MP for organising and helping during his busy parliamentary schedule. We appreciate it in these tough times for our community.
The Assyrian Aid Society Australia is in constant contact with our counterparts in Canada, Iraq and the United States. Since the Baghdede news broke, we have been working together daily to co-ordinate our efforts in a united manner. I want to thank Rabi Younan Lazar in (Assyrian Aid Society Iraq) for doing an amazing job. You are my hero.
I want to also thank more than 13,000 people who have so far pledged their support via our social media fundraising campaigns. I want to acknowledge the countless individuals and organisations that have reached out to help. The Assyrian Medical Association of Australia has been in communication with our team in Iraq to ask how they can assist.
The Assyrian Australian Association has once again generously supported us socially and financially. The Assyrian Sports and Cultural Club remains a rock by our side. Our brothers at the Assyrian Democratic Movement, the superstars at ACSYA, Noqza TV, Zilgo Media and SBS Assyrian have been there to help spread our updates and communicate our community needs.
Together, united, we must move forward.
If I was to build a list, it would drag on for many paragraphs. That is not my point. If I have not mentioned you, I am sorry. What I do want to say is that the past two weeks have taught me the power of Assyrians working together. I have seen real leadership among our people and I have ignored the distractions, because we cannot afford to get caught up in our old ways.
My message to every Assyrian is to please, stand up, put your differences aside, listen to our faults, improve, work for the community and lead with example. Kha omta, kha khooba (one nation, one love).
May our martyrs rest in peace and may our community find grace, forgiveness, love and hope in these difficult times. We will never stop working for you.
Peter Esho is the President of Assyrian Aid Society in Australia.