Press Clippings 4

taken from FARRARGO

Bountiful journeys on the S.S. Hope

By Anna Grace Hopkins and Matthew Albert

Earlier this year, we headed down to Swanston Street to watch the Federation parade. We stood around as the floats went by and laughed along with the multiracial crowd of Australians as a guy inside a giant papier mache chicken walked into a traffic light.

We wondered what the ‘founding mothers and fathers’ of our federation would have thought of it all, and concluded that while the papier mache chicken would have impressed few, the myriad of cultures represented in the crowd and the parade would surely have caught their attention.

Towards the end of the parade, a brightly coloured float caught our eye: a boat atop a huge wave, with a cluster of small children in and around it. To our delight, we knew some of the beaming faces parading with the float. We waved excitedly and got ecstatic waves in return.

We followed the boat as it passed the thousands of well-wishers. When we met the children at the end of the parade they were glowing with pride. They gave us a tour of their boat, it’s name clearly written on the side: ‘S.S. Hope.’

We know these children because they are members of Melbourne’s southern Sudanese community. Since last year we have been helping them learn English through an arm of Melbourne University’s CommUNIty program. Every Saturday, at the very do-able hour of 11am, we traipse out to a small rundown hall in Footscray, where we hang out, have some food and kick a soccer ball before sitting down for an hour helping the Sudanese kids with their English literacy.

Sudan is home to one of a horrific number of very low-publicity wars, one that African war correspondent Scott Peterson calls “the most desperate and corrosive of all in Africa.” Knowing little about the country prior to our involvement with the kids, we find the ongoing civil conflicts hard to follow.

In short, Sudan gained independence from Egypt and Britain following civil unrest in 1956. The colonial domination before this time extended to the British laying out the streets of the capital, Khartoum, in the shape of the Union Jack.

Since then, and in between two military coups, the nation has seen ongoing conflict between the Muslims in the north and the Christians in the South. An estimated 1.9 million people have been killed; one in every five southern Sudanese.

In addition to this war, Sudan is plagued by brutal inter-tribal warfare, suffers widespread famine and still practices slavery (with approximately 15,000 women and children enslaved in the past decade). Both national and tribal armies have deployed child soldiers, some as young as nine.

The country is a recipient of refugees from nearby Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zaire and Uganda but has a large refugee population of its own. Some of these make their way via various refugee camps to Perth and then to other centres around Australia. The statistics of Sudan paint a very clear picture. 41% literacy rate. Life expectancy of 56. 30% unemployment. As always seems to be the case, the human story is far worse.

We have come to see the survival of these children as something close to a miracle. They have grown up with violence and fear. Many have witnessed the death of parents, other family and friends. They have spent years in refugee camps, where disease, food shortages and physical and sexual abuse are rife.

Some were born in the camps and before reaching Australian shores had lived nowhere else. And while some will happily sit and draw pictures of houses, flowers and animals, others draw only soldiers, mines, bombs and bodies. When we asked one girl what she liked about living in Australia, she replied, “It’s safe. Nobody bashes children here.”

Their positive attitude towards Australia is remarkable, and they are constantly baffled at the standards of life here. They comment often on the fact that there is no fighting, and on the ready availability of good food and friendly people. Just last week one of the kids remarked that Australia was such a wonderful country - not only did they give her single-parent family of eight a house, but a dog as well!

Another often asks whether doing the exercises we set will mean he might go to High School next year. At the rate he works there is little doubt, but still the thought of it seems almost impossible to him.

We have about 35 kids come to the hall each week. Since the program started, word seems to have spread and the numbers have increased three fold. Unfortunately, the number of regular tutors does not nearly cater for the range in English ability.

Proficiency extends from fluent five-year-olds to illiterate eighteen-year-olds. Not a single student is incapable and most are extremely bright. They soak up every thing they are taught and labour over difficult words and grammar points until they are sure they understand. Their marked improvement is rewarding.

Seeing them strive like this makes us feel proud that these kids will come to call Australia home and will undoubtedly contribute greatly to this country. What we teach them will help them directly in enriching the fabric of our community. The lesson they can teach us is that migrants are one of our country’s greatest assets.

For example, two of our students occasionally miss tutoring because they have Tae Kwon Do competitions. Both are State champion for their age group. Guess who’ll claim their Olympic gold when it comes?

We do not run this tutoring program because someone makes us do it. We do not run it because we believe it will ensure us the express lane to heaven, or because it looks good on our CV. We do it because these children are the passengers of the S.S. Hope, and they have been given a second chance.

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