The Home to Bilo campaigners have collectively held their breath for four years, but won't sigh with relief until the Nadesalingam family touches down on home soil at the end of the week.
The grassroots campaign has kept national attention on the asylum-seeking Tamil family since they were taken from Biloela, where the family had been living on temporary bridging visas.
So, who are the people behind the Home to Bilo campaign and how have the events surrounding this family shaped their lives?Bronwyn Dendle is a social worker and mother of five who has been advocating for the Nadesalingam family well before they were taken into immigration detention. "I got to know her story and her amazing life journey … and what she had endured in her country of origin in Sri Lanka and just what she'd had to do to survive and then make her way to safety in Australia," Ms Dendle said.
"It went from writing letters to ministers and contacting MPs quietly, I suppose, and then all of a sudden the family was taken with no warning, no explanation," she said.Ms Dendle said she was restricted because she worked for a government organisation. Social workers and friends Angela Fredericks and Bronwyn Dendle started the Home to Bilo campaign together.
The Biloela social worker became close with the Nadesalingam family after they went into detention and has held regular video calls with them, even visiting them on Christmas Island.
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