An informal meeting is underway at an employment service in Melbourne.
Nyaluet Yan is raising eight children, five of her own and three relatives. The 43-year-old needs to boost her income.
“What type of work are you looking for?” the interviewer asks.
“I have worked in childcare for 17 years, but after COVID-19, I reduced my hours. I needed to pay more attention to the kids,” she says. “But now I need to work at least 30 hours a week.”
Yan is struggling to pay the bills for a large family, and like many clients, she is seeking extra hours this year.
Nyaluet Yan is raising eight children — five of her own and three relatives — and needs to boost her income. Source: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
“It’s hard, especially on your own, it is really hard,” Yan says. “Life is very expensive now. All bills are going higher, and feeding five or six teenagers is huge because they always need food on the table.
“Also, ideally I need to start work at 9:30am and then I finish at 4pm so I can still pick up the younger children from day care,” she says.
Yan was born in South Sudan and is among 13,352 people in Victoria with South Sudanese ancestry.
She’s a volunteer at Afri-Aus Care, a not-for-profit organisation based in the Melbourne suburb of Springvale. It provides culturally appropriate support to women as well as at-risk African Australian youth and the broader diverse community.
CEO and founder Selba-Gondoza Luka knows how hard it can be resettling in a new land.
Afri-Aus Care founder Selba-Gondoza Luka says many migrant women, especially those with large families and young children, face multiple barriers to employment. Source: SBS / Craig Hardiman
“When we came here, we lived on one salary and it was very difficult and I didn’t know that I was slowly developing depression. It became worse when I had a premature baby,” Luka says.
“Then I was diagnosed with postnatal depression.
“Unfortunately, the baby died at the age of seven months. Then I developed deep depression.
“At that time, within the community, discussing mental health was still taboo. And I remember some people did not understand what I was going through.
“So, when I got a little bit better, I went to university to do a bachelor of nursing and then postgraduate in clinical mental health because I really wanted to understand what happened to me.”
Abraham Kuol works as a project manager at Afri-Aus Care in Melbourne. Source: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
Using academic skills and lived experience, in 2015, Luka set up Afri-Aus Care to support others struggling with loneliness and depression and connect them with jobs.
But in these challenging economic times, finding appropriate roles for new arrivals with limited local experience isn’t easy.
“Many migrant women face multiple barriers in getting into employment, especially those with large families and young children,” Luka says.
Australia’s average unemployment rate is around 4 per cent. In Melbourne’s Greater Dandenong area, unemployment is more than twice that at 9.1 per cent.
“If migrants do not speak good English or cannot write well in English, it’s even harder. So, we support women with English classes. And those who can speak English well go straight to resume building,” she says.
Selba Gondoza-Luka aims to improve women’s employment outcomes. Source: SBS / Craig Hardiman
The Afri-Aus Care women’s program called Ubuntu has partnered with the Victorian government’s employment broker initiative, the Victorian African Communities Action Plan (VACAP).
“Through this program, we have been able to support hundreds of marginalised women into employment,” Luka says.
“We also speak to employers about suitable working hours for mothers. And this has allowed many women to get into employment, overcoming a big barrier.”
Employment broker Victoria Andrea says for women raising children alone, a job can increase self-esteem, a sense of belonging, and financial independence.
Employment broker Victoria Andrea says it takes hard work to convince employers to consider workers with limited Australian experience. Source: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
“We mostly work with Africans and, in particular, Sudanese, South Sudanese, Somali and some East Africans,” Andrea says.
“A lot of African-Australian women have large families. So the average would be five to six kids, and then it goes up to 10 or 11.
“And while I am proud of our success, it takes hard work because you have to talk to the employers and give them the confidence to try workers with limited Australian experience.”
It’s a challenge Andrea also faced. After migrating from Canada, she initially struggled to find a job.
Andrea is now a full-time staff member at Afri-Aus Care, thanks to a project overseen by Abraham Kuol, who migrated from Kenya with his family in 2004.
Abraham Kuol migrated from Kenya with his family in 2004. Source: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
“My family fled the civil war on foot from Juba in South Sudan to Ethiopia,” 26-year-old Kuol says.
“My mum and my dad then carried all my siblings through the dirt, the desert, and finally made their way to Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp, where I was born.”
The Kakuma Refugee Camp was established in 1992 in the northwestern region of Kenya. It is now home to more than 250,000 people.
According to the United Nations, Kakuma refugees have struggled with ongoing food shortages and harsh living conditions.
“Conditions were hard with dust everywhere, constant dust storms,” Kuol says.
Abraham Kuol was born in a refugee camp. Source: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
“The aid organisations working within the refugee camps tried their best, but this is not a place where you wanted to get sick. If you got sick, your chances of survival were low,” Kuol says.
“But those experiences in a refugee camp, although sometimes painful and hard and challenging, they’ve made me into the person who I am today — someone who cares about other people.”
Kuol spoke little English when he arrived in Melbourne at the age of six.
He is now an associate research fellow and PhD candidate in criminology at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University.
Abraham Kuol also mentors youth involved with the justice system. Source: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
Kuol’s research explores post-settlement challenges facing African Australians. A keen soccer player, he also mentors youth in contact with the justice system.
“Young boys that come from extreme disadvantage — not to justify their offending — do go through a lot of challenges when they first arrive here,” he says.
“Because I have grown up here and I know how tough it can be, I sympathise with the challenges they face, and that is one reason I am able to provide support because I can relate.
“The main difference is that I was provided with support, which allowed me to be resilient.”
Abraham Kuol hopes to use his PhD to improve outcomes for other African Australians. Source: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
Kuol hopes to use his PhD to improve outcomes for others.
“I want to ensure that African Australian voices are represented at the tables where the decisions are made,” he says.
“We do have ongoing trauma, generational trauma that is passed on to African children. It’s really challenging.
“Many [new arrivals] have experienced war, many have lost loved ones, lost siblings. They have come from countries that have given up on them, countries that are in turmoil, countries that are affected by war, countries that are affected by pain, where there’s fear.
“And most have come here looking for a better opportunity, it’s their last piece of hope. All they need is the chance that Australia provides.”
Helping African Australians overcome mental health and economic hardship is a goal shared by Afri-Aus Care founder Selba-Gondoza Luka.
“Our main focus is to support women and youth into employment. Because after getting a job, many women tell me that it gives them a sense of value at home.
“They can bring food to the table, pay a mortgage or rent and feel respected within their own community.
“And while this year is tough financially and some companies are closing, those companies who are still open, please support these African Australians, they’ll surprise you.”
International Day for People of African Descent is celebrated on August 31. It acknowledges the important contribution people of African descent make to our society.
