Young refugees living the Australian dream. This Refugee Week, we've spoken to three young people who have tackled some of the top resettlement issues refugees face: education, employment and finding a home. People aged 30 and under, represent a significant majority and a growing proportion of new arrivals to Australia. Despite the difficulties involved with resettlement, many young refugees adapt quickly to their new enviornment, have a strong committment to their family and community, and display a fierce determination to succeed. 22 year old Shukufa Tahiri fled Afghanistan with her family in 1998. She arrived in 2006 and is currently studying law at the University of Western Sydney.
Shukufa Tahiri. Shukufa Tahiri, 22, is studying law at the University of Western Sydney. She is studying for her exams and says she has come a long way since she arrived in Australia with her family in 2006. Shukufa helps her mother prepare dinner for their family. Ms Tahiri fled the Taliban with her family in 1998. Murtadha Ebadi. "Every night. Books and novels - Refugee Council of Australia. Fiction books for adults | Non-fiction books for adults | Fiction books for children and young adults | Non-fiction books for children and young adults | Picture books Fiction books for adults Under the Persimmon Tree (2005) By Suzanne Fisher-Staples This widely acclaimed novel explores the relationship between a young American woman and an Afghan girl, Najmah, who is all alone in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) By Khaled Hosseini Set against the backdrop of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban, this novel follows the intersecting stories of two Afghan women. The Kite Runner (2003) This novel tells the story of the friendship between Amir, the son of a wealthy Pashtun merchant, and Hassan, the son of a Hazara servant. Non-fiction books for adults The Suitcase: Refugee Voices from Bosnia and Croatia (1997) By Rada Boric, Julie Mertus, Jasmina Tesanovic and Habiba Metikos Tampering with Asylum: A Universal Humanitarian Problem (2003) By Anh Do. For teachers - Refugee Council of Australia. Refugee Teacher Management. School Days: A lifeline for Syrian children. For Syrian children who have been uprooted by war, school is essential. Classrooms provide children with a safe space to recover from trauma, develop bonds with other children, exercise their imaginations and build a foundation of learning that will help to heal and strengthen their families and communities into the future.
Photos by Peter Biro/IRC Children at the Domiz refugee camp in northern Iraq, home to some 40,000 Syrian Kurds, where the IRC is building a secondary school. Inside Syria, the IRC has established schools in three camps where thousands of families have taken refuge from the fighting. Some 1,500 children are now enrolled. Morning classes follow the Syrian curriculum and include instruction in mathematics, science, Arabic, social studies, English and religion. The IRC provides each student with a school kit including a backpack, pens, colored pencils, notebooks and other items. Three out of four Syrian children have lost a close friend or family member in the war.
Working with Young People who are Refugees. Syrian teenagers work with top iPhone photographer to produce their own portrait of life in a refugee camp | Jordan | Save the Children. Save the Children has launched a unique online gallery of images captured by Syrian refugee teenagers on mobile phones. The BBC launch is online now, under the following slideshow: The iPhone photography project – facilitated by Michael Christopher Brown, a member of world-class Magnum Photos and renowned for his work using iPhones - paints a new and unique portrait of life in Za’atari refugee camp, Jordan.
The teenagers, working alongside Save the Children, have created a dedicated Tumblr feed for the project, which will continue to be updated over the next year to give a snapshot of life in the camp. Brown spent a week at Za’atari in August, running workshops to teach the children - both girls and boys aged 14 to 18 – how to capture and process images on an iPhone. “When you’re a foreign reporter, you tend to photograph camps like Za'atari in a certain way – from the perspective as an outsider,” said Brown.
Becoming A Refugee Through Your Smartphone. How Can Technology Improve the Worst Refugee Crisis of Our Time? | IREX - Civil Society, Education and Media Development. By Olimar Maisonet-Guzman, Program Coordinator Last year, the United Nations Refugee Agency reported that the number of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons worldwide exceeded 50 million, the most since World War II. The majority of refugees coming from Afghanistan and Syria are fleeing war-torn communities, and are running toward neighboring countries, often facing extreme poverty and limited opportunities to rebuild their lives. Technology has the potential to ameliorate the service and information gap that impacts refugee lives.
Al-Zaatari’s 3G Zone In December 2014, I visited the Al-Zaatari Refugee Camp in Mafraq on an IREX field visit to Jordan to understand the patterns of technology use in the country. Al-Zaatari is the fourth largest refugee camp in the world with an estimated population of 83,000. From the moment I entered the camp, I immediately noticed how modern technology is impacting the refugee crises. Looking Ahead: Technology With a Purpose. Syria war refugees in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan don't all want to come here. Bestselling author Mark Haddon visited the Zaatari refugee camp in JordanThere are 600,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan, 80,000 in the Zaatari campMany of the refugees are living in difficult conditions since leaving SyriaSome refugees have started businesses in the camp to earn a little money By Mark Haddon For The Mail On Sunday Published: 00:18 GMT, 27 September 2015 | Updated: 07:50 GMT, 27 September 2015 Mark Haddon (pictured) , author of bestseller The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, recently visited the Syrian refugee camp of Zaatari in Jordan This is two stories.
I’ll skip the politics, except to repeat what most people know, that the war in Syria is complex and violent, and God knows when it will end. Most of the families I’ve spoken to over the past few days come from an area in the south of the country that has been hard hit by fighting. I’ll give you the numbers, though, because they’re staggering.
There are seven million displaced people inside Syria. Loaded: 0% What's in My Bag? :: What Refugees Bring When They Run for Their Lives. The following has been republished with kind permission from the International Rescue Committee. This year, nearly 100,000 men, women and children from war-torn countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia have fled their homes and traveled by rubber dinghies across the Aegean Sea to Lesbos, Greece. Refugees travel light, for their trek is as dangerous as it is arduous. They are detained, shot at, hungry. Smugglers routinely exploit them, promising safety for a price, only to squeeze them like sardines into tiny boats. Most have no option but to shed whatever meager belongings they may have salvaged from their journeys.
Those allowed to bring extra baggage aboard often toss it overboard, frantically dumping extra weight as the leaky boats take on water. Few arrive at their destinations with anything but the necessities of life. “You will feel that you are a human. A mother Name: Aboessa* Age: 20 From: Damascus, Syria A child Name: Omran* Age: 6 From: Damascus, Syria A teenager. Learning World: Education for Displaced Children. Part 1 - Syria's Scattered Classrooms, Syria Syrian Refugees in Jordan - Nearly 28 million children live in conflict zones around the world. This week's Learning World episode focuses on the plight of these out-of-school children. Watch the video to find out how not-for-profit organizations are bringing education to more than 4,000 Syrian children living in the Zaatari refugee camp, 80 kilometers northeast of Amman in Jordan.
The camp is now home to at least 45 thousand Syrian families who fled their homeland to escape the violent battles between the Syrian regime and rebel forces. Part 2 - Emergency Education Network, USA Interview Lori Heninger (INEE) (USA) - Dr. Part 3 - Alek Wek: a Refugee's Story Portrait of Alek Wek (USA) - There are nearly 214.000 refugees today in South Sudan - the most vulnerable are children, especially girls.
Making a difference in refugees' lives through education. News Stories, 5 October 2015 © Photo courtesy of Abdul Khalil Abdul Khalil, a 30-year-old refugee from Afghanistan, is stretched to the limits. Each day, he works between 18 to 19 hours. ISLAMABAD, Sept 30, Pakistan (UNHCR) – Life tests student Abdul Khalil, a 30-year-old refugee from Afghanistan, to the limits. He starts at 8:00 a.m. from the university where he studies and finishes at a flooring sheet factory at 3:00 a.m. where he works. Khalil's family fled their native Kunduz in Afghanistan in 1986 when he was aged one and took refuge in Pakistan's Balochistan province.
In Quetta Khalil was enrolled in a private school, but due to his father's meagre income he was soon moved to a public school. His ailing 74-year-old father cannot support a seven-member family alone. Khalil, the only literate member of his family, also has to work because he wanted to continue he studies for which he needed extra resources. Khalil wishes to dedicate his life to education.
Stories from Syrian Refugees. International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs. Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide.
International Medical Corps' work in the region began in 2003 and includes rapid emergency response, health systems strengthening and service provision, mental health and psychosocial assistance, maternal and child health, protection, women's empowerment, community development, and water, sanitation, and hygiene. International Medical Corps has implemented several projects since its initiation in Lebanon: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. WorkingwithYoungPeoplewhoareRefugees. Heartbreaking photos of drowned Syrian toddler show human tragedy of refugee crisis. Warning: This report contains images that some may find distressing The refugee crisis engulfing Europe has a shocking new face after photographs emerged of a young Syrian boy lying face-down on a beach in Turkey.
The boy was one of at least 12 Syrians who drowned trying to make it to the Greek island of Kos. One of the photographs shows the boy, wearing a red t-shirt and shorts, lying face-down on the shore with his hands by his side. Another shows a rescue worked carrying his lifeless body to land. The images have been widely circulated online, with many tweeting the hashtag #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik (humanity washed ashore). Turkish media identified the boy as 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, whose 5-year-old brother died on the same boat. The two boats, carrying a total of 23 people, had set off separately from the Akyarlar area of the Bodrum peninsula, a senior Turkish naval official said.
The confirmed dead included five children and one woman. Help is Coming: how I chose a forgotten Crowded House song to help Syrian refugees. I have two singles of the song Go West. It doesn’t matter which one I play. Either will reduce me to tears, but only one is intended to have that effect. The version that gave Village People a hit in 1979 was intended to be no more or less than a song about the American dream. With words written and sung by Victor Willis (the one who dressed as a naval officer), Go West transcended its lyrical intentions. For thousands of gay men seeking to leave behind the strictures of small-town prejudice, Go West became the new national anthem of New York.
Fourteen years later, when Pet Shop Boys enlisted the services of the Welsh male voice choir for their version, Go West meant something entirely different. Time has a crude way of separating the good songs from the bad songs. At times, it seems as if those sentiments are more in evidence in Germany than they are here. Of course, it shouldn’t take a pop song to emotionally engage people with the plight of those less fortunate than themselves. Befriend a Child in Detention | Community Project. Kids in Detention: 20/10/2015, Behind the News. Did you know that about 200 kids are currently being held by the Australian Government in immigration detention centres?
Some are held in Australia, others on an island a long way from here called Nauru. But lately there's been growing concern for their welfare. A group of doctors from the Royal Children's Hospital in Victoria recently announced that they're now refusing to return kids sent to them for treatment from an immigration detention centre. But why? Here's Carl. These kids are writing letters to their pen pals. MICHAELA: I like to cook, and when I grow older, I want to be an actor in movies.
HARPER: My favourite singer's Drake, and my least favourite singer's Taylor Swift. MICHAELA: The drawing below is from my favourite TV show Adventure Time. But these kids at a primary school in Melbourne haven't actually met their pen pals. SARAH & MICHAELA: Hi BtN, I'm Sarah, and I'm Michaela. And communication with the outside world can be pretty tricky. European Migration: 08/09/2015, Behind the News. We're taking you to Europe where right now more than a hundred thousand asylum seekers are arriving each month.
Here's Emma to take a closer look at this issue and some of the kids that are caught up in it. EMMA DAVIS, REPORTER: This sight is becoming very common in a lot of European countries. Tens of thousands of asylum seekers, travelling across borders, desperate for a new home. 15-year old Jehad is one of them. He used to live in Syria before he left his home behind. JEHAD: I remember my cousin, my grandmother, grandfather and all my people from my family. Since January, more than 300 thousand people have risked their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe. They travel to the coast and many pay people smugglers to take them across the sea. JEHAD: It was scary, it was so scary. Jehad says the boat he travelled on was basically just an inflatable raft. JEHAD: It's a small boat. JEHAD: We need clothes. JEHAD: Because I love studying.