OUT OF AFRICA – WITH HOPE
When Anna Dimo arrived in Australia from Sudan as a legal immigrant, she brought her five children and three children of her relatives, children who had each lost a mother or father. She left her husband, who had been jailed for his efforts to get his wife and children to safety from the civil war and the clutches of (anti Christian) government spies. Her husband is still alive in Sudan; the Red Cross found him there in 2002. But she would need to pay $A1360 to get him to Kenya and then more for the airfare to Australia.
On October 17, 2000, after 11 years in a refugee camp in Egypt (interrupted by a dangerous visit back to the Sudan), Anna stepped on to Australian soil as a Sudanese Catholic woman who could not speak English, alone in a strange country with eight children. In Sydney she was given accommodation in a house supplied by the Department of Immigration, but after four weeks she had to find a house for herself.
“I had no English and no one to help me,” she says. “I finally found a house in Ashfield for $360 a week, but after paying rent and food and looking after eight children it was very hard for me. Then the man who owned the house sold it and I had to find another. It took me three months to find one and I had no car to look. Finally I found a place for $380 a week. I think it would have been better if the government had let me stay in the government house until I had finished the English language course and found a job.”
“But the Immigration Department did some good things for us; they arranged to get us a TV, a washing machine and a fridge.” Once the accommodation problem was settled it was time to look for a job. “I worked as an aide in a Nursing Home for three days a week,” Anna says.
However her life had a turn for the better since the Catholic Church and the Josephite Community Aide centre stepped in to help. “Now thanks to the Catholic Church, I am working at St. John’s Primary School, Auburn, as a teacher’s aide for five days a week,” she says. “There are 56 Sudanese students here and I help them in the class. The teacher teaches in English and I help the children understand. None of the Sudanese children could speak English when they arrived and those who were in camps in Uganda had never been to school, they only spoke Dinka, the Sudanese language, and maybe Arabic.”
“The Sudanese children who were in Egypt spoke Arabic, too. I speak both languages so I can help explain what the teacher is saying if they do not understand. I am very happy to work here. I love looking after the children and when we were in Egypt I volunteered to do it.”
Anna plays a further role in helping her people in Australia; she is chairwoman of the Sudanese Woman’s Group in Sydney. Anna’s contact with the Josephites came through a cousin, Wulk Dut, who knew of their existence.
“He brought Sr. Maria and Sr. Helena to my place”, she says. “We were sleeping on the floor and they gave me beds and blankets, and took me out and showed me kookaburras. I hadn’t been out of the house before.”
Anna had already made contact with the local Catholic Church. “When I was looking for a house I would ask where the Catholic Church was, and after we moved in I had the children going to local Catholic schools. “The kids liked going to school, but when they brought their homework home, I could not understand it. When the schools sent a note home I could not read it. But my niece could understand enough English to explain it to me.”
Her five children are now aged 10, 12, 14, 16 and 17; and the three she cares for are 19, 21 and 22. Three are at TAFE, three in high school and two in primary school. At the time of writing none of them has a job.
“I am happy to be in Australia”, says Anna. “It is quiet and there are human rights. Sudan is terrible, there was discrimination and no human rights. They discriminated against Christians. Here at school the principal and the teachers are all very good to me. I would like to say thanks to the Catholic diocese and Catholic Education Office for helping the Sudanese and especially the Parish Priest of Auburn, Father Ray Farrell, and to the Josephite Sisters who are working hard to help the Sudanese.”
“I hope the Australian Government will help by joining those who are working to bring peace to the Sudan. Australia is now my home, I am very happy in school and I know God is great.”
excerpt from The Catholic Weekly, 11th January 2004, p. 11
PRAYER FOR IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES
ALL COMING BEARING GIFTS
Response (all): Lord, you are the gift and you are the giver.
We welcome you into our hearts and our homes dear Jesus.
We welcome you in the person of the migrant farm worker, whose labor brings the fruits of the field and the vine to our tables.
We welcome you in the persons of the seafarer and truck driver, whose long journeys bring goods and fuel to our homes.
We welcome you in the person of the refugee child alone in the world, whose hope and courage brings us inspiration.
We welcome you in the person of the asylum seeker, detained in our prisons without cause, who teaches us to thirst for justice.
We welcome you in the persons of the immigrant teacher, scientist, artist, athlete, and doctor, all of whom bring their gifts to enrich our land and our lives.
LET US PRAY
Lord Jesus, help us to recognize you in the face of the stranger and welcome your presence among us. You have graced us with the gifts of many cultures and nations. Free us from the fear of those from other lands. Teach us to share our gifts with newcomers in return, so that you may say “I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Come now into my Kingdom.” We ask this in your name, from the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen
May the Passion of Jesus be always in our hearts