Press Clippings 17

Mosaic Magazine - SAIL Feature article, May 2005
By Yuko Tanaka

A new era in Australian immigration is beginning.  For the first time in our history a large number of people have been making their way to Australia from the African continent.

The Republic of Sudan is located in northeast of Africa, north of Egypt, and is the largest country of the continent.  Sudan is home to abundant and diverse natural environment with rain forest, mountain ranges and desert.  The ongoing civil war in Darfur and the surrounding regions of the country as well as severe draught have forced more than 1.6 million people to flee the country.

Joseph Arou of Box Hill, in the eastern suburb of Melbourne, is one of more than 4500 people who arrived in Victoria from Sudan in the last three years.  In fact the Sudanese community is the fastest growing ethnic community in Australia today.  In the City of Whitehorse alone, where Box Hill is situated, more than 150 Sudanese people have arrived between 2004 to 2005.

Joseph lives in Box Hill with his wife and four children and is currently studying theology.  Like many other Sudanese people living in the area, he came from southern Sudan.  He came to Australia about a year ago through Egypt after long-term hardship.  

For many refugees and immigrants, including Joseph, having arrived Australia was not the end of the struggle; it is often followed by more hardships as they adapt to the Australian way of life.  While it is challenging there are many organisations and people who are trying to make the transition as smooth as possible. 

The challenges for those starting a new life in Australia from scratch are harder and more complicated than one would think.  Joseph said that living in Australia as a refugee is very different from living in his home country in many ways. 

“When I first came, it was very difficult. Little things like paying the bills, and finding and renting a house was difficult,” Joseph said.

The report “New and Emerging Communities 2004” written by Briony Kercheval of City of Whitehorse council reveals that the most common difficulty experienced by immigrants and refugees are language issues.  It is followed by housing, health of self and family and employment issues.   “Many Sudanese families lack English language skills to seek assistance, to fill out forms, or to ask information,” Nyamakal Riek Dhol, a researcher and member of the Southern Sudanese Women’s Group said.

The Southern Sudanese Women’s group is run by Migrant Information Centre (Eastern Melbourne) on a weekly basis.  It gives women from Sudan a great opportunity to meet more people in the same situation and learn about Australian culture, including the language. 

It is not only the city councils that are concerned with the language issues faced by the Sudanese refugees.  Private organisations also have an interest.  “I think it’s (English) vitally important. It’s really the key to the society.  It gives them access to all the services, access to the people that they need to have access to, and a means of getting around, so it’s really crucial,” says Matthew Albert, an Over-seeing Co-ordinator and Founder of Sudanese Australian Integrated Learning Program (SAIL).

SAIL is a volunteer-run, non-profit, secular organisation that provides a range of services such as free English classes, in-home support, excursion and camps for migrants and refugees from Sudan now living in Victoria.  It started in 2000 with only five Sudanese students and it has grown to the biggest Sudanese-specific organisation in Australia with over 400 students and 200 volunteers. 

The free English classes are taught at the three campuses of SAIL in Footscray, Dandenong and Altona.  Depending on the individual needs of the students the class size varies but the class is mostly a one-on-one tutoring.  The classes and all the other services are available for everyone in the community.  They also have specific services designed to support particular groups of people such as single mothers or VCE students.  “I think it is very important that we provide the services to the whole community,” Matthew says. 

Many people in the Sudanese community have experienced traumatic events such as torture, persecution and the witnessing the death of loved ones.  Meanwhile, the researcher, Nyamakal Riek Dhol explains that there’s still strong belief among Sudanese families that counsellors don’t understand their culture and tradition.  In this situation it is very important for us to have intimate relationships based on trust and compassion to talk about what they have gone through.

Matthew said that naturally, their aim is to improve their students’ language skills but at the same time they aim at building mentor or friendship type of relationships with their students.  “I think the foundation of the whole program is the one-on-one relationships that tutors and the students have together,” he says.  
  
 For those arriving in Australia as refugees or immigrants, one of the most pressing and significant issues is housing.  In fact it is ranked in the report by Briony Kercheval as the second most common need of the immigrant communities within the City of Whitehorse.

While all the immigrants wish to get secure and yet affordable housing, it is  formidable task, especially when they don’t have rental history or referee in Australia to present to private real estate agents. 

“We need help with housing…we have very big families, we have a lot of children in them,” An anonymous female member of the Southern Sudanese Women’s Group says.  The researcher of the group, Nyamakal Riek Dhol also explains that many Sudanese people have voiced their complaints against the discrimination by private real estates.    

Migrant Information Centre (MIC) has assisted different ethnic communities in various ways in the culturally diverse eastern suburb of Melbourne.  Their services cover a whole range of the needs that the immigrants have and are free of charge.  The statistics show that of their clients, the Sudanese ethnic group was the largest.  In April 2005 there were 159 Sudanese of a total of 356 clients.  The most frequently made inquiry was concerning housing and accommodation. 

MIC has provided a range of information on housing and accommodation.  They supply the immigrants with short-term housing until they find their permanent houses, or they act on behalf of the immigrants when applying for houses through private real estate agents.  They also offer money in advance to pay bond or rent and make sure all the procedures of the rental of the homes go smoothly.

“I think the services are very useful, it’s very different if you have people to help you,” Joseph says.

It is a common understanding that many of the issues that the immigrants experience are temporal.  Although the amount of time each issue require varies, it is true in many cases.  Over time, however, the immigrants begin facing new and complicated problems. One of the most common and emotive issues among them is the cultural conflict that occurs over generations.  The survey done by the City of Whitehorse in 2004 shows that while many immigrants want their children to settle into Australia well, they are concerned that the children are not respecting their own customs, belief system and cultures.

“I think the kids have a strange position,” Matthew from SAIL says.  “When they are inside the house in the morning, they are expected to be a Sudanese kid…and when they walk out the front door they are expected to be an Australian kid, speak English and worried about Australian problems… I think it’s very important that they know that they can be a Sudanese and they can be Australian at the same time,” he says. 

Although it is challenging for the refugees to adapt to Australian culture they are very enthusiastic and the outlook is very promising.  “They are really positive and they are wanting to fit in to Australia. It’s amazing how people are dedicated to Australia,” Matthew says.

“It’s getting easier, I’m learning how to live in Australia,” says Joseph. 
 

It is expected that the number of immigrants from Sudan will continue to increase.  In the future we can expect the Sudanese community to become a big part of the diverse Australian society and enrich Australian culture.

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