“Everyone was hounding me,” says Go Back’s Raquel

The six participants who embarked on a 25 day journey for the SBS series Go Back to Where You Came From last night shared their views in a post-series forum.

Go Back To Where You Came From: The Response, hosted by Anton Enus included an audience of family members, refugee host families and members of the public who had questions for the six. All said they had been deeply affected by the experience, including 21 year old Raquel Moore.

Having attracted more criticism during the series than anybody else, Moore told Enus it was difficult to endure.

“It was quite emotional,” she said.

“After the first and second episode everyone was hounding me, calling me a bogan, westie, saying me and my partner are jobless, I’m naive and stupid and all this sort of stuff.

“Yes I am spoiled and a bit blind-eyed to what it’s really like over  in other countries.

“I’ve definitely learned a lot and definitely changed towards the end of the journey.”

She also stopped visiting the SBS website during the series because of the savage online comments.

“Everytime I went on there there were always bad ones and no good ones.”

She was defended by her boyfriend who wanted her to participate in the show as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“She was going to see some horrific things, and she did, but she’s learned a lot from it,” he said. “She’s grown up even more since she’s come back.”

Darren Hassan, who said he still had concerns about ‘boat people’, apologised for some comments he made on the series especially when he appeared enthusastic about the arrest of Burmese refugees during an Immigration Raid in Malaysia:

“I unequivocally apologise for being so gung ho about that. Sometimes we say things and look back and think ‘Did I really say that? I’m an ex-soldier and I suppose instinct kicked in,” he said.

“I started the show as a Twitter virgin and I was certainly deflowered in a few days.”

His wife said if she hadn’t known him she would think by watching the show he was a harsh person.

But Hassan said he still didn’t believe refugees should get on a boat.

His Iraqi-Australian host, Wasami, now settled in Liverpool, said there were still issues that compelled people to escape via boats.

Hassan also told Enus he wasn’t entirely happy with the way he was portrayed on the show.

Adam Hartup highlighted his visit to the Villawood Detention Centre, filmed before the site exploded in a fiery protest, as the moment when he began to become most affected by the experience.

“Going to Villawood was the first night when I thought I could shed a few tears,” he said.

“Coming out of there I was definitely shaken up.”

His own brother was one of the firefighters who attended the Villawood fire.

Gleny Rae, who joined the show as the most sympathetic participant, remained supportive of the exercise and the plight of asylum seekers.

“It was an incredible journey of learning and understanding,” she said.

“One of the biggest problem with this debate is that silly word ‘racism’ comes into it too much. I think that age of political correctness should be thrown in the bin. You can’t have a true debate without being able to sit down and say what you think, what you feel and to be able to listen to someone else and try to understand their views.”

She said she expected it to be physically demanding, but had never anticipated the emotional journey.

Raye Colbey, who underwent a big change from critic to empathiser, told Enus it was difficult to look back on the footage in the Kenyan refugee camp.

“It breaks my heart to watch it,” she admitted.

“They don’t even have hope.

“They open their hearts to you. They would give you anything and yet they are stuck in that camp.

“They are at the mercy of the system.”

Rod Schneider said he now has a deeper understanding of what is going on in regards to the issue. He is angry about the way people are treated in Africa and forced to leave their homes.

“If the one thing that comes out of this show is that the debate moves to a different plane and we start talking about things on a different level, and dig behind the boat people in Australia who are 300o a year out of 15 million a year worldwide then that’s a great thing.”

The show ended with the resettled refugee families giving an update on some of their families in Kenya and Jordan, with one Masudi relative who will be resettled in America and others who are awaiting news on applications.