It started with a snake at the door and dumpling making sessions, an indication that a local group’s decision to welcome a refugee family into their community would be nothing short of adventurous.
The group of six volunteers, many of whom met through their local primary school, formed the Warrandyte Refugee Support Group. They are all residents of Warrandyte, city of Manningham, 24 kilometres north-west of Melbourne’s CBD.
“The Warrandyte community is known for their love of the environment as we live on the Yarra River. We’re surrounded by state parks, and people are very open and friendly,” said support group co-ordinator Hanh Truong.
Hahn, a former Vietnamese refugee who now owns a thriving sauce making business, said right from the start that she thought “the whole community would wrap around a refugee household with love and support.”
She was right. Before the arrival of the refugee family, the group held a fundraising trivia night which was a sell-out, raising about $4000. It was just a sample of their successful efforts to raise funds and donated goods for the refugee family they’d been matched with, Nang Seng Maw and her husband, Maung Soe Thu, and three children, aged four to nine years old. The couple and their children had been living as refugees in Malaysia, after fleeing persecution in Myanmar.
Their support in Australia from the Warrandyte Refugee Support Group was made possible through a pilot program, known as the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot, or CRISP. The program is a joint effort between the Australian Government and Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) that matches refugees with local volunteer groups.
For Nang, who had just two years of schooling, the chance to live in Australia offered the promise of a better education for her own children.
“Neither of us finished primary school but we can both speak Malay and Chinese,” she said about herself and her husband before arriving to Australia.
“We were staying temporarily in Malaysia, so the children could not go to mainstream schools to have an education,” she said. “We will work hard when we arrive in Australia. We want to make sure our children get a good education.”
In just a few weeks, the group had organised a whole lot for the household and their new life. A house was let. Kindergarten and school enrolments were completed. Healthcare and Medicare were sorted, along with the temporary rental assistance and Nang and her husband were enrolled in adult education to learn English.
“Nang and Maung were incredibly independent with transport, and catching the bus everywhere, including to their English classes,” said Hahn.
Nang, who had a few part-time jobs, and attended English language classes, also used YouTube to learn online. “I’m so grateful. When I was young, I couldn’t have these opportunities to learn, and now I do.”
Hahn felt the family understood their role as a community supporter group. “I believe they did. They didn’t expect free handouts. They are very independent.”
“They are a young couple, have phones and can access information in their language online, so they can source a lot of things themselves.”
A long-term rental, secured with the help of the group for 12 months, had a large garden that also became home to four chickens, three ducks and a bunch of vegetable seedlings. Nang’s children couldn’t get enough of their new backyard, a place they shared with their neighbours and playmates, who coincidently also attended the same primary school.
Nang said her eldest daughter attended a school camp, which was the first time one of the children had been away from the family, and it went incredibly well.
But they encountered some interesting hiccups during their sponsorship journey. A snake lazing in the sun at the family’s front door prompted panic, but the volunteer group quickly called a snake catcher who provided education on dangerous Aussie animals.
By the end of the year’s sponsorship, Nang and her family were living a life they were excited about, one they could now manage on their own. She felt that this was made possible through the support of the volunteer group.
“Australia is such a good country,” she said. “In the old country, we didn’t have money and couldn’t go to school. I think if I try hard to improve my English, and earn money, I’m going to send money back to my country for the kids there to go to school. We’re really lucky in coming to Australia. I grew up in hardship. Some people they are taken by the army to fight a war. We’re lucky here.”