Kon karapanagiotidis biography of william

Many of those people are people with skills. Seven out of 10 are people with skills that this country actually needs right now. If we keep outsourcing everything, we are going to become the dodo of the economic world when our natural resources are finally extinguished. What does Australia have then? One: we have a legal obligation as a signatory to the refugee convention, and so it is illegal for us to send people offshore and to lock them up indefinitely.

Two: we have a moral obligation. And three: the economic path. We can use this in a way that is sustainable and prosperous for our country. It is beneficial. We can see this as an entrepreneurial opportunity. We have a motivated, skilled labour force that this country needs. We can do the moral and legal thing and economically benefit from it. So we can either go down the continued pathway of fear, racism and indifference and waste a generation and build an underclass, or we can act with compassion, entrepreneurship and basic human decency.

We can actually embed people who are seeking asylum, refugees—like we have successfully, overin the last century—and make them an asset to this country. Is it at its worst now?

Kon karapanagiotidis biography of william: Kon Karapanagiotidis is the

Yes and no. But there is extraordinary support in the community. We see this as an opportunity to create the greatest ever, engaged, grassroots movement for changing this country. Perversely, the worse things become, the stronger we become as an organisation. How do we get there? The most important thing is for people to participate and advocate, or donate their time, their energy, their resources.

Kon karapanagiotidis biography of william: Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO and founder of

Get out there and share the facts. Bust the myths. Talk about it to people who rarely hear things outside of the mainstream media. Politicians reflect the sentiment of the public. We want something better than this. In the next three years I want to engage with young people—that next generation of voters from 15 to How do we get to every high school in Australia between now and next election so that we can equip those kids with the facts and with genuine alternatives?

How do we work with multi-ethnic and multi-faith communities? How do we get businesses to see people who are seeking asylum as an asset and something our economy and community needs, so they become something that is indispensable? How do we humanise people through education? What are parents telling their kids? What are people teaching their friends and family?

So many of our attitudes are shaped at the kitchen table. What are you afraid of? The same way that your politics were taught to you by your parents—via their attitudes and by their example. At home, at the kitchen table…. Politics is lived in that way. Their suffering and those experiences they had taught me the importance of resilience.

You have to imagine a better society and a better world. What are you doing to build a better alternative to the one that we have now? I guess people need to hear that. They need to feel empowered.

Kon karapanagiotidis biography of william: Skilled, motivated and compassionate individual with

They need to think they can make a difference. Of course they can. People are extraordinary and profoundly powerful. Take the ASRC for example. Here is an organisation, run without any federal funding, run almost entirely by volunteers. Our labour, our energy, our time, our voice, our passion, our heart has the ability to imagine a whole other world.

Every act of compassion, every act of defiance against injustice, every act of standing for what is right and what is fair changes the world. Of course it does. Systems are just human beings. You think about it: every movement in this country, from the right to vote for indigenous people to the right to vote for women, or internationally: the end of apartheid or segregation.

Is there a downside to all of this? What does it cost you to be a representation of hope to so many people? Does work wear me out? Does it physically and emotionally wear me down? Of course. Does it take a toll on my wellbeing? How precious it is that I have a choice, unlike my parents did. You get to do what you love. And then I spent the last 22 years doing what I love, but in the community.

And none of it comes easy. Anything really precious and beautiful in life requires all of you to be committed to it. What is Dumbo Feather? Articles Conversations Podcast Partners Store. Pass it on. Conversations 3 July Running Time. Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich. The Log of a Cowboy by Andy Adams. Audio Books. Free Stuff. Again should be distributed widely.

I take on the point he made about just winning over your base, preaching to the converted and I will continue in any small way I can to be a voice on these issues and pray that the critical shift towards absorbing the facts can happen sooner than later. That cruelty can become a vote loser rather than a vote winner. Such admiration and gratitude for this mans work and voice in this world.

His book is wonderful and so so important. This is a quickly written review just after finishing. I suspect I may reflect and perhaps write something more eloquent with some quotes, although I'm unsure how I'd narrow down the parts I feel stand out the most. I'd love to see this book on school reading lists. What a truly inspirational man.

Kon lays bare his heart and soul as he describes his achievements and includes reference to what he perceives as failings or weaknesses through his adult years. He talks about racism, bullying and loneliness in his childhood. Yet he was able to overcome these challenges as he established the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in which he has managed in tough times as it helped thousands of desperate people in need.

Kon is a fighter for Human Rights. He uses his skills and qualifications in Social Work and Law to help those in need - those under threat of deportation; those banished to detention centres such as Manus Island and Nauru; those who have been "accepted" into Australia on temporary visas but without support or a means of income; those who are homeless; those in minority groups such as LGBTI; and our First Nations people.

Kon is thankful for workers, volunteers and donors at the ASRC, but these people would not have the opportunity to be part of "the tsunami of kindness" if not for Kon. There is so much that is powerful in this book. I could not include all the quotes and concepts that are so inspiring. I strongly recommend it to all readers to find your own inspiration and hope.

This is not what I was expecting. I guess based on the description I was expecting a whole lot of positivity and motivation, and there was a bit of that, but most of the book was telling sad, and eye opening stories. He is honest about his personal struggles and how the issues he encountered effected him. This is refreshing as we often see high profile charity workers being portrayed as always happy and helpful, and not the struggles they have dealing with the issue they try to address every day.

This book is really eye opening about asylum seekers lives in Australia and detention centres. Spoiler alert the they do not have a fun time. It is good to know that they have someone like Kon fighting for them as they need it. Despite everything he continues to remain positive and advocates for asylum seekers rights. For all the sad stories Kon does have some amazing positive stories as well.

I recommend reading this book if you want to learn more about asylum seeker issues and other issues of kon karapanagiotidis biography of william and disadvantage as Kon has worked in many fields in Australia. Kon was an absolute inspiration to me and I have never forgotten him. He once told me that when he first started out on his journey of compassion, he was volunteering for about 10 different organisations; I decided that this was a person I wanted to emulate!

And I hope I have, in some small way, having been volunteering my way around the world for the past 14 months, and with no end in sight. So imagine how delighted I was to receive this as a birthday gift from my best friend this year. There's such a wealth of warmth and wisdom in this book that I kon karapanagiotidis biography of william I will return to it in low moments, as well as seek out Martin Luther King Jr's Strength to Love for further assurance that passion and compassion are the greatest gifts we can share.

I was honoured to meet Kon and I have a beautifully addressed sentiment on my copy of the book. Without a doubt this book is an example of Kon jumping in, with all heart, grit and intention to share his message more broadly and enable others to learn from his perspective. I closed the pages knowing there are more actions I can do within my sphere of influence, to be guided by my values.

So it is a great achievement. Kon is not a trained author, so perhaps there were elements that could have been crafted differently, edited, omitted and honed. I forgive any of these aspects in my reading as I see more importantly the commitment to make imperfect changes and stir momentum in others. Author books 12 followers. This book was nothing like I thought it would be, and was all the better for it.

Kon has got the be the most humble, beautiful human around and to read his words of immense vulnerability, passion, courage and hope was an experience. This book did things to me! While Kon is well known for having founded the Asylum Seeker Resource Center, this book is not really about the center, or even refugees. It's a book about Kon's personal struggles, what he's learnt about being a man and a human being, and as the title suggests, the power of hope.

Yes this is a biography, but in parts it's also a manifesto for those of us who wear the label "social justice warrior" with pride. I cannot wait to read this again. Liz Murray. I recommend everyone read this book, as Kon Karapanagiotidis has such an important story to tell. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

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