The quiet hero who is campaigning for refugees

“WE WERE refugees ourselves – our family was Jewish,” Felicia Di Stefano started.
“The first refugees go right back to the Stone Age, when one group overcame another in savage fights and then the other had to go to find another place to live. That’s how people migrated from Africa around the whole world…
“So, we had to leave Poland where I was born because of antisemitism, it was very difficult.
“The four of us came out to Australia in 1959 – mum, dad, and my sister.”
Carlton became home for Felicia and her family before the family shifted to Brunswick, then onto East Brunswick and Elsternwick.
“We moved to Kew when my father died – sadly after two years here.
“Things were really, really difficult because we weren’t naturalised Australians and my mum wasn’t able to get a widow’s pension initially, and she was too ill to work.
“But we survived and when we got the widow’s pension we thought we were so wealthy – it was amazing. The school was willing to give us free books and requisites, so that was lucky…
“Mum made all our clothes because she couldn’t afford (to buy them). She used to buy little pieces of material and put them together and make us beautiful clothes, even our school uniforms. She used to make the money stretch.”
With the trajectory changing for the trio, Felicia and her sister were encouraged to study – ‘education is the key to everything’ was her mum’s key lesson.
“During the war, (mum) had missed out (on an education) – they had escaped and were put into a work camp in Uzbekistan, but that saved their lives.”
Working as a teacher for 10 years majoring in severe intellectual disabilities and raising a family consumed Felicia’s life before she joined her husband, John, in his successful software development company. With John able to retire at 52, the pair moved to Gippsland.
“We had heard about ‘boat people’ and thought what’s this ‘boat people’ thing and looked into it. When we found out who was on the boats, we thought we have to help them for goodness sake.”
In discussing refugees whose only option is often to come to Australia by boat, Felicia noted- “They are the brave ones, the ones who are resourceful and we want people like that. My aim is to persuade the government to bring 100,000 refugees because they are in great need, and we can train them for the skills we need. We bring in 200,000 immigrants to Australia, why not 100,000 immigrants and 100,000 refugees.”
A common misconception that is narrated by political leaders is that refugees desire free handouts. This could not be further from the truth as refugees can be from all walks of life and often those who come via boat have made a perilous journey; an ultimate sacrifice to save their life or that of their families with no guarantees. 
“We tried so hard to be Australian, we rejected anything Polish, we wanted to be part of the Australian people,” Felicia recalled of her own refugee journey.
“We didn’t want to be a newcomer anymore, and we really tried hard to give back.
“My sister has a PhD and worked in cancer research; I was a teacher. Our son is a PhD and senior research fellow in ecology. We come and we work twice as hard just to succeed. And for my mother, I had to get a piece of paper (a degree) that was success.”
Forming the South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees, Felicia and her fellow SGRAR colleagues have welcomed many refugees over the years to Bass Coast.
“We’ve got furniture, bikes for the kids, introduced them to Wonthaggi, tutored English and familiarised them with our neighbourhood.
“(Early on) Julian Burnside sent out email addresses of refugees at different refugee camps. I got to communicate with an Afghan refugee in Lombok, who had been there for three years. He was desperate. He’d been recognised as a genuine refugee having run away from Afghanistan because his father had been murdered – for being on the losing side.”
Intercepted by the Australian Navy and pushed back to Lombok, the refugee was rescued by Indonesian fishermen and locked up in the refugee camp in Lombok.
“We started to correspond, we sent him money and he brought books and learnt English. Australian politicians were not interested, and we got a hold of letters from lawyers and doctors and Greg Hunt sent them to the Immigration Minister in New Zealand and that Afghan man got into New Zealand. He got a job, built himself a house and got married…”
There are many stories similar and differing for Felicia as she continues to navigate the system welcoming refugee families and individuals to South Gippsland alongside her SGRAR counterparts, but what makes Felicia such an inspiring woman is her quiet spoken determination – no-one is different to those around them, we all need the same things – food, water, shelter, clothing and a safe place to sleep.
“The writer Solzhenitsyn says that our purpose on earth is to help one another. I agree with him.”
SGRAR is inviting everyone to a Palm Sunday rally and walk on Sunday, April 2 starting at 2pm.
Donations to Bendigo Bank Acc name: SGRAR BSB: 633000 Acc no: 155749153. 100 per cent of each donation goes to help refugees in need.