Dot.EDU.aU : Refugees - still struggling?

Over the past years the topic about refugees coming to Australia has been lighted a lot through media. According to The Australian Government about 1.2 million has immigrated to Australia in the years 2000 to 2010. Many has suffered war and violence, and had to leave their homes and family behind. Here in Sydney many of them are placed in detention on Christmas Island. Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) used to house up to 400 refugees, but has now increased the capacity to 1116. IDC also offer a lot of facilities as educational facilities.

Figure 1 - Refugees learning

To start a new life in a new country is a challenge not only for refugees, but also for people who decides to move their selves. You have to learn how to act and behave in your new country, and school and education is a great way to start. It is said that "we cannot understand this cultural dimension of human beings unless we recognize that education and schooling are two of the most important ways in which we learn to live within and contribute to our own cultural lives."(Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd, 2007) Many refugees come from a country with no English background at all, and to start learning a new language as a grown up or even as a teenager can be though. Australia though, has a lot of learning programmes for refugees such as ‘the university of Sydney Refugees Language programme’. This programme is held by volunteers and supported by private donators and funds. This programme is only one out of many programmes helping the refugees to settle in Australia. Yet it is still an eternal dream for many to take a university degree. There are many cultural factors that affect their learning. Curriculum for example is an example of a cultural product. Curriculum represents selected aspects of learning and cultural values. (Wadham, Pudsey, Boyd. 2007 p.19)

A good example of how it is possible to accomplish what you want with the right support is an eighteen year old boy named Al Sina Hassan who came to Australia as a refugee five years ago. Back in Iraq he dreamt about being an Engineer or a Doctor. He saw University as an impossible dream, but thanks to ‘The Refugee Action Support Programme’ he is now a first-year student in mechanical engineering.

Another good example on people who has migrated to a new country and accomplished something good is Stuart Hall. Stuart Hall emigrated from Jamaica to England in the early 1950’s. He became a professor in sociology and the key figure in the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) in England. (Wadham, Pudsey, Boyd 2007 p. 25)