What is one way you have grown this year?
One way I have grown this year is by learning that compassion has to become practical. Over the years I have become increasingly aware of how much pressure some students carry. International students can carry loneliness, financial stress, uncertainty about accommodation, worries about family, the need for therapy care, and the quiet struggle to belong in a place that is not yet home.
We saw this during COVID. When some political leaders told international students to go home if they could not afford to be here, we tried to do the opposite. We found ways to help them stay. We entered into partnerships with state government, raised money for scholarships, and tried to fill some of the gaps that had opened around them.
This year the pressure took a different form. A number of Iranian students had arrived in Australia with a plan. They had calculated tuition fees and living costs. They had savings. They had families who had sacrificed to help them study. Then war and currency fluctuations undermined everything. Their savings were decimated. They couldn’t contact their families and had no way of knowing if they were safe. They were worried about tuition fees, rent, food, and whether they could continue their studies at all.
One evening after dinner, some of them watched their currency drop by seven percent in four hours. I cannot imagine what that felt like. I became aware of their situation and rang the Vice-Chancellor the next day to see whether we could talk. I did not realise he was in Paris. It was 6.30 in the morning, and he was on his way to Charles de Gaulle airport. He rang me back immediately to ask what I needed.
I explained the situation as best I could. He assured me that the university would look after these students. A meeting was arranged for the following week. Around fifty students gathered to express their need. I joined them. The Vice-Chancellor listened and then told them to concentrate on their studies. The university would work out the tuition fees. They could be deferred. Payment plans could be arranged. If necessary, fees could be waived.
It made a difference. It did not remove the stress. Their families were still in danger. Their finances were still uncertain. Their future still felt fragile. But they were no longer carrying the problem alone. Someone had listened. Someone had taken responsibility. A pathway had opened. It is now exam period. In a few weeks we will see how they have managed to navigate these pressures.
I am not sure compassion grows by becoming more emotional. Emotion matters, but feeling is not the end of compassion. Compassion grows by becoming practical. It notices. It brings people together. It identifies the problem. It makes the phone call. It asks for help. It puts plans in place,
Sometimes compassion does not mean having the answer. Sometimes it means refusing to leave people alone with the problem.
Perhaps that is one way I have grown this year. I am learning that compassion is not only feeling for people. It is something we do with others, for the sake of those who need help to keep going.
The Afterword 
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