To sit with a soul
A soul rent apart
A soul shattered
A soul without hope
To sit with such a soul
And listen to torn
Remembrance
Of a spent flame
Flickering angrily
Until the splutter stops
With will spent.
The will
To struggle, to search,
To reach out
Gone.
This conversation with
No promise of connection

This, dear leaders,
Is your creation.
Your torture so exquisite
That it undoes the mind
And steals the soul.
A cringing, thrashing
Final capitulation
To your Stubborn need
To win.

Jill Parris, Victoria Regional Meeting

Jill wrote this poem after a very difficult hour with her friend Vali at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre. Vali was convinced that all hope was spent and only suicide would save him. He had been in detention for 7 years on Nauru, and then medivacked to Melbourne after a botched operation.  After much activism he was again operated on in Melbourne but because of conditions at MITA this operation also failed.   

Also, he was assaulted and had his nose broken.  Again the operation was unsuccessful and the perpetrators of the assault were not held to account despite video evidence. 

The wonderful news is that Vali has finally been given a clear date for his departure to America on 22 September.  He will face a very difficult start to his freedom because he will now have to pay to have his medical issues managed.  He will be supported for 3 months in America but will them be expected to find work despite not having been able to work for the past 9 years. 

Jill is hoping to raise some money to give Vali a small start in his new life. If anyone would like to assist Vali they should contact Jill and David Parris on jill.parris@gmail.com