Voice of refugee youth

The SSCA’s Refugee African Muslim Youth (RAMY) project was one of 28 projects to have been awarded a major community grant under the Federal Government’s Diverse Australia Program, having been shortlisted from an initial field of 550 in February.

SSCA Manager, Jhan Leach, said the project would help identify and address issues faced by refugee youth, including community integration, language skills and difficulty in gaining employment. Aimed at African refugees between 12 and 25, the project will offer leadership development, public speaking and employment workshops as well as dance, art and musical groups. A short film documenting the stories of African refugee communities is also planned.

“We would like the youth to have a loud voice,” Ms Leach said. “We want them to be heard and seen, and we want them to tell other Australians what it’s like to be an African refugee Muslim youth, and what it’s like living in Australia as a refugee.

“We want to create opportunities where we get the youth to talk to the broader community to share their skills and abilities with creativity and dance and music and art … so we can create some broader acceptance of the culturally diverse community that we live in.

Sierra Leonean community leader, Fatmata Bangura, who coordinates the Limaniya African cultural group, said the grant has opened the door to exciting new opportunities.

“There are a lot of programs that we would love to do,” Ms Bangura said. “At the moment we’re just doing things that don’t require a lot of money. With the funding, we can achieve a lot of the things that we have been talking about. It’s a huge opportunity.”

Ms Bangura said that having come from disadvantaged backgrounds, many young refugees needed empowerment and leadership skills.

“We need more support in [developing] leadership skills and to raise their confidence,” she said. “Some of the young people think that because they are black, if you like, they cannot achieve certain things. I think that’s really sad.”

“I can do my best to help but we need more young imaginative leaders, and how do we do it? Young people are our future generation.”

Photo: Ali Blogg -  Community Workers Laura and Bill with members of RAMY

Source: South Sydney Herald April 2010 www.southsydneyherald.com.au