Bright futures: Students and staff from Greater Shepparton Secondary College who participated in an African kings and queens workshop presented by Mariam Koslay (centre, kneeling in front). The workshop discussed the importance of identity for African youth.
Photo by
Murray Silby
It can be difficult enough for teenagers to find their own identity or way in life at the best of times, but when they are from a minority group then that can bring with it a whole other set of pressures, both from within and outside their communities.
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In the Australian context, each cultural group carries its own challenges to deal with; many are consistent, some are different.
African students at Greater Shepparton Secondary College were given the opportunity to discuss some of those challenges and their own place in Australian regional society during African kings and queens workshops on Tuesday, September 13.
Voice of experience: Mariam Koslay addressing girls at Greater Shepparton Secondary College during her African kings and queens workshops.
Photo by
Murray Silby
The workshops were presented by African-Australian film-maker and former journalist Mariam Koslay, who faced the same uncertainties growing up in Australia.
“There’s a culture more and more where parents are confused,” Ms Koslay said.
“Elders and adults don’t know how to communicate and understand where a young person is at, and as someone who is African, I feel that that is more ingrained, unique and a lot more complex within African communities.
“I guess (here) there’s that added layer of being in a regional setting, which I feel that regardless of what community you identify as, we all have different communities, there’s no spaces in which young people can articulate what they're feeling about social media, sexuality, respectful relationships, and it’s becoming harder and harder for schools as an education provider to hold that space.”
Multicultural aid at the school Yvette Siriyamungu said African youth in Australia faced a range of pressures.
“When you come here (Australia) the community says this, your parents tell you this, and then there’s other people like the Australians, and then you want to fit in the family, in the community all together,” she said.
“Then you find it hard to identify where you should actually belong.”
Year 12 student Nadia Niyubushobozi is a multicultural leader within the school representing the African community.
She said fighting stereotypes was one of the biggest challenges young African women faced.
“With African women, most of us think that we can't get into things like leadership, education, and I think it’s jobs that other people are doing, because we are not meant to do them,” she said.
Yasmin Akbar is in Year 9 at the college and said it was difficult being a young black woman in Australia.
“Being a black woman in Australia is difficult because we’re surrounded by so many white people,’’ she said.
“So we tend to feed off the way that they act, the way that they look, what they eat and how they learn.
“We should be able to focus on ourselves and our culture, our history, our foods and our rights.”
Year 8 student Monica Deng said African community members also needed to support each other to help their youth achieve their full potential.
“The black community, as in us Africans, we normally fight each other, and we’re trying to stop that happening,” she said.
“It’s still very challenging, but we’ll take small steps and we'll get there eventually.”
Suha Teia is in Year 8 and said it could also be tricky for African youth to develop relationships outside their own communities.
“You don’t need to love someone who is just the same as you,” she said.
“People think that where I’m from you have to love someone from your own culture because you’re the same, but it’s something different.“
Ms Koslay has produced a mini-series called African Kings, which she hopes will correct negative stereotypes assigned to young African men in Australia.
She said regional centres such as Shepparton often had stronger minority communities than in the larger cities, although youth in those areas were still requiring increased support.
“This is what makes regional Victoria so beautiful, that there’s a stronger sense of community in these spaces in which there is a collective responsibility to young people, but again, with COVID, and with what’s happening in the world, our elders don’t have enough support to hold space for young people,” Ms Koslay said.
But Yasmin Abkar had her own advice for African youth.
“To all the black people struggling out there, keep trying because you all will be successful one day,” she said.
