WORDS Bernadette Zebec IMAGES Kitty Beale

Catholic schools in Sydney have sprung into action with gestures of goodwill and solidarity in response to the Sydney riots.

Six months since the Cronulla riots in New South Wales left North Cronulla beach virtually deserted, crowds are starting to trickle back, but some families still shy away.

The town has become synonymous with racial intolerance and tension between people of different ethnic backgrounds. But a number of Catholic schools are working to change those perceptions and rebuild bridges between these different sectors of the Australian community.

Principal of St Aloysius Primary School Cronulla Phillip Tax and his counterpart, Margaret Heslin from St Felix’s Primary School in Bankstown, decided their kindergarten classes should meet to foster a better cultural understanding between the pupils.

The schools are demographically very different. According to the last national census in 2001, more than 46 per cent of people in Bankstown speak a language other than English at home. In the Shire only 9.1 per cent of people come from a non-English speaking background.

Mr Tax says he hoped spending time with children from Bankstown would give children in Cronulla an understanding of the different environments people lived in within Australia.

‘It will certainly open them up to a whole new outlook’, he says.

Mrs Heslin says that with 98 per cent of the 396 pupils at St Felix’s coming from migrant families, the school could play a key role in promoting respect and cultural understanding at an early age.

‘I believe it is our job as Christian educators to create a future where our young people celebrate, not segregate, differences.’

‘They had a great time running around, chasing birds and building sandcastles’, says St Felix’s kindergarten teacher Maree Elchaar. ‘It goes to show that no matter in which part of Sydney you live, we all live in the same way and enjoy the same things.’

Another primary school in the Sutherland Shire, Our Lady of Fatima Caringbah, asked its students to create hand prints to display a giant symbol of harmony across its school on Harmony Day as a direct response to Cronulla’s riots.

Alison Bofinger, a teacher at the school, says 16 students hit on the bright idea to display their ‘hands of harmony’ at North Cronulla in a move to invite beach-goers back to the beach.

‘After December’s riots, the students wanted to send a message that racism is not OK’, she says. ‘These hand prints spread messages about peace, tolerance and respect towards all people from culturally diverse backgrounds.’

The 16 students belonging to the North Cronulla Surf Live Saving Club kicked off the event with a walk along the esplanade with families and friends, pegging their symbols along fence posts.

Year 6 student Erin Cowan says he hoped his ‘hand of friendship’ would encourage ‘all different cultures to get along’, while Year 4 student Bronte Howell said she wanted ‘to make people feel safe to come to Cronulla again’.

Bronte’s dad, NSW Police officer Lee Howell, assisted in the surveillance during the riots. He says Cronulla has come a long way since December, but he still hoped the gesture from the kids would see an increase in number of people from different ethnic backgrounds coming together to share and enjoy the beach.

‘These kids are an example to us. They have no pre-conditioning or bias, and they get along with everyone’, he says. ‘A lot can be learned from the innocence of youth.’

The invitation from Catholic primary school children confirms that there are still people of goodwill capable of bringing people of different cultures together in Sydney. However, the tragedy of December’s riots is that it further diminishes people’s ability  to feel proud of their background and identity.

To help students regain a sense of pride in who they are and their heritage, Catholic schools in Sydney’s western suburbs (Santa Sabina College, Strathfield; St Charbels’s College, Punchbowl; St Maroun’s College, Redfern; Our Lady of Lebanon College, Harris Park) have supported the program “Life after Cronulla” organised by the Australian Lebanese foundation and the University of Sydney to help students feeling victimised for being Lebanese since the riots.

Australian-born Lebanese student Joseph Assad says it was frustrating and upsetting to see your culture bad-mouthed.

‘It’s not fair to be judged based on a small minority or stereotype. Most of us were born in Australia and we are all Australians at the end of the day.’

When the 17-year-old Holy Spirit College Lakemba student heard about the Cronulla riots, he decided to respond in gestures of peace and goodwill to promote a more positive message about Sydney’s racial diversity.

He joined 50 of his classmates in a walk through Lakemba’s main streets, handing out flowers to local residents at the railway station and shopping centre.

Principal Frank Malloy says the school initiative to hand out 400 pink, red, yellow and orange gerberas, with the attached greeting card—“Wishing you God’s peace and blessings from your friends at Holy Spirit College, Lakemba”—was a response to growing negative media perceptions about the area resulting directly from the riots.

‘We didn’t want the local community to feel victimised. Lakemba is a great area that enriches our College, and we wanted to extend our friendship to it’, he says.

‘We know this to be a very generous and loving community, which makes considerable sacrifices to respect and care for others—and we value being part of it.’

‘It may only be a small step towards long-term harmony, and may only involve a small percentage of the population, but it is undeniably an important and welcome step in the right direction.’

The gesture was indeed welcomed by at least one local resident, Abbas Jaber.

‘I’ve lived in Lakemba for most of my life, and this is the first time in nine years that I’ve seen such a kind and thoughtful gesture’, he says.

‘People have been smiling all morning as I’ve watched them walking along the street receiving flowers.’