Making up for lost time: the experiences of Southern Sudanese young refugees in high schools.(Programs & practice)

How are recently arrived refugee young people from Southern Sudan faring in Australian high schools? A project undertaken with young refugees from three schools in the Western Sydney suburbs of Blacktown and Bankstown suggests that schools can act as sites where Southern Sudanese young people can come to terms with the trauma of forced migration, and make the transition to citizenship and belonging in multicultural Australia.

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Thousands of refugees from Somali, Ethiopian and Eritrean backgrounds arrived in Australia from the Horn of Africa during the 1990s. Now they are established groups. After 2000, the focus of Australia's refugee program shifted toward refugees of Southern Sudanese background. In 2005, the priority again moved to refugees originating from the Great Lakes region of Central Africa (Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Liberians from West Africa.

While the majority of arrivals in the 1990s settled in Melbourne, DIMIA is now attempting to disperse refugees across Australia's cities and regional centres. For example, since 2002, an estimated 400 Southern Sudanese refugees have arrived in Launceston. A significant Southern Sudanese community now exists in Coifs Harbour. Despite DIMIA's efforts to disperse people, anecdotal evidence suggests that following the initial settlement period of six months, significant numbers of recently arrived African refugees relocate to Sydney or Melbourne where extended family members live, and ethnic-specific services are readily available.

In terms of Australia's immigration history, the emerging African communities have distinctly different profiles from previous refugee communities. They bring with them enormous trauma from civil conflicts, such as torture, rape, family separation and loss, and community breakdown. Moreover, they are difficult to classify in terms of identity, language, community and settlement needs. Added to this is Australia's general lack of knowledge about Africa.

Communities, such as the diverse Southern Sudanese, are minorities in their own country and remain small and splintered in Australia. In Sydney, the Southern Sudanese are a heterogeneous community with various ethnic groups and regional affiliations, including Dinka, Nuer, Nuba and Achole. They generally live in the Blacktown, Fairfield and Bankstown areas of Western Sydney.

There are very few major studies dealing with African refugees in Australia, and none with a focus upon young people (cf Beattie & Ward 1997; Gow 2002; Udo-Ekpo 1999). Accordingly, youth specialists and educators do not have an adequate knowledge base from which to assist African young people, their families and communities. Conversely, African young people need education about the changed context in which they live. However, providing a knowledge base does not mean conveying generalisations, maps and language descriptions about one group of Africans or another. This would belie the complexity and individuality of…