"Honestly, my life is like a hell in here...The children... you can see that lots of them are really depressed... they saw lots of people that were harming themselves... It's so terrible and terrifying.
Whenever I just think about my future I can not find anything. How long am I going to stay in here, 5 years, 6 years? No one knows."
These are excerpts from our just released, exclusive, interview with a brave young women currently detained in Australia's Manus Island detention facility (located in New Guinea).
Watch this video to hear her story and learn what's really being done in our name:
https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/refugees/out-of-sight-in-our-minds/help-tell-their-stories
This brave young women is the first asylum seeker to speak out in defiance of the heavy restrictions on her freedom to communicate with the outside world. She wants it to reach as many Australians as possible, so we all know what's being done in our name.
We can honour that bravery.
Let's do everything within our power to expose the truth about our shameful detention facility in Manus Island and pressue our political leaders to put humanity above party politics. Let's give a voice to the children of Manus Island and put this video on TV screens all around the country. Let's ensure these children can't be tucked away out of sight, out of mind: https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/refugees/out-of-sight-in-our-minds/help-tell-their-stories
Thanks for all that you do,
Sam, Erin and Amy for the GetUp team.
GetUp is an independent, not-for-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you'd like to contribute to help fund GetUp's work, please donate now! 
Comments
You made the children dance
You made the children dance.
Dancing, laughing, jumping up and down with excitement - a rare moment of innocent joy during a time of darkness.
This was the scene inside Manus Island detention centre on Friday when the children learned their drawings, with the help of GetUp member donations, had been made into a TV ad and were now "famous" in Australia.
The courageous young asylum seeker who broke the news about conditions on Manus Island by sharing her story with GetUp and ChilOut said:
This bittersweet celebration of the campaign came on the same day it was announced that all of the pregnant women on Manus, and their families, were being transported to Australian detention centres. A move representing a clear acknowledgement from our government that the current conditions are indeed not suitable for children. It was a welcome piece of good news and shows that the campaign is already making a difference in the lives of the children and adults on Manus Island.
Thanks to hundreds of GetUp members, we're already halfway to raising enough to run the powerful TV ad that made the children dance on TV screens across Australia. Will you chip in now to help raise our target of $50,000 so we can run the ad that finally gives asylum seekers a voice? Together we can change attitudes in our country, and change daily life for the children on Manus. Let's put this issue back firmly on the agenda so no politician can hide from continuing to allow children to suffer in our name:
Watch the ad and donate here:
https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/refugees/out-of-sight-in-our-minds/help-tell-their-stories
Last Thursday, the day after the campaign launched with an exclusive interview on Channel Ten's The Project, Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor came on the show to offer his response. When asked: "Brendan, what's your response to the interview GetUp obtained inside Manus Island?" he responded with: "It's not perfect but the conditions I think are adequate."
It's his response that's not adequate.
It demonstrates the urgent need for us to rise up and demand better. When both major parties voted for offshore processing of asylum seekers, they hoped it would keep these children and families out of sight and out of mind. Would this cruel policy survive a single day if the conditions children are enduring were on display in our cities and suburbs? Probably not, and that's why if we're to change this abhorrent policy we need to open up the curtains and put these stories on the air. We've already reached millions of Australians on Channel 10 last week. If we can get ads on air, we'll reach even more.
Let's give the children in detention on Manus Island a reason to dance again. Chip in now to run this video on television screens across the nation.
Thank you,
Erin, for the GetUp team