Afghan people in south east Melbourne Perspectives of a migrant and refugee community A community profile provided by South Eastern Region Migrant Resource Centre March 2009 Afghan Community Profile – south eastern Melbourne 2 Afghan Community Profile – south eastern Melbourne 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 3 2. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................. 4 3. GEOGRAPHY, POPULATION and HISTORY ............................................................ 5 Where is Afghanistan? ................................................................................................. 5 The Afghan people ....................................................................................................... 6 Languages ................................................................................................................... 9 Afghanistan history ...................................................................................................... 9 4. AFGHANISTAN TODAY ........................................................................................... 17 5. AFGHAN MIGRANTS IN AUSTRALIA ...................................................................... 20 6. SNAPSHOT OF AFGHANISTAN .............................................................................. 22 Facts and Figures ...................................................................................................... 22 Myths about Afghanistan ............................................................................................ 22 7. DEMOGRAPHICS .................................................................................................... 23 Afghan population in Australia – national, state and regional ..................................... 23 8. PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE SETTLEMENT EXPERIENCE .................... 25 Access to services ..................................................................................................... 25 Children ..................................................................................................................... 28 Commemorative dates ............................................................................................... 28 Counselling ................................................................................................................ 30 Customs and traditions .............................................................................................. 31 Education ................................................................................................................... 33 Elders ........................................................................................................................ 34 Employment ............................................................................................................... 36 Expectations .............................................................................................................. 37 Family ........................................................................................................................ 38 Finance ...................................................................................................................... 39 Food .......................................................................................................................... 39 Health ........................................................................................................................ 40 Hospitality .................................................................................................................. 41 Housing ..................................................................................................................... 42 Identity ....................................................................................................................... 42 Intergenerational conflict ............................................................................................ 44 Interpreting needs ...................................................................................................... 45 Language ................................................................................................................... 46 Law ............................................................................................................................ 46 3 Afghan Community Profile – south eastern Melbourne Maintaining culture ..................................................................................................... 47 Marriage .................................................................................................................... 48 Men............................................................................................................................ 50 Pre-embarkation experiences .................................................................................... 51 Religious observance ................................................................................................. 53 Seeking asylum ......................................................................................................... 54 Traumatic experiences ............................................................................................... 55 Women ...................................................................................................................... 56 Youth ......................................................................................................................... 58 9. APPENDIX ................................................................................................................ 60 Languages of Afghanistan ......................................................................................... 60 Afghan Associations .................................................................................................. 63 Radio – Afghan language programs ........................................................................... 66 Ethnic Television ........................................................................................................ 67 Print ........................................................................................................................... 68 10. BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 69 314 Thomas Street Dandenong Victoria 3175 Phone: 03-9706 8933 Fax: 03-9706 8830 60 Webb St Narre Warren 3805 Phone: 03-9706 8933 Fax: 03-9705 6977 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.sermrc.org.au 4 1. INTRODUCTION This document aims to present readers with a collection of perspectives by members of the various Afghan communities on their settlement experiences in Australia. No settlement experience is the same for any two individuals. Despite the commonalities of people’s backgrounds, the relationship between communities and their environment is indeed a unique experience. Accordingly, we have documented aspects of community development by the Afghan communities in Victoria, specifically in the south-eastern region of Melbourne. There have been Afghans living and working in Australia for almost 150 years, longer than any other community still receiving recognition as a refugee producing nation. It was in 1860, when the first cameleers arrived as transportation workers. Since that time, people have arrived from Afghanistan mostly as refugees, principally after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and then in the late 1990s during the time of the oppressive Taliban regime. Refugees face many challenges. A new and unfamiliar home provides both sanctuary and threat to people’s traditional ways of life. Adapting to new laws, customs and social standards, and needing to learn about unfamiliar monetary, regulatory, medical, educational, and employment systems places enormous pressure on individuals and families. For these reasons, we have designed this document to assist readers develop a greater understanding of specific Afghan refugee needs. In particular, we hope that improved knowledge will shape the ways in which providers can deliver better and more culturally appropriate services to the various Afghan communities. We have sought to include a broad representation of views from the Afghan communities. People respond to their new life in Australia in different ways. Some arrive from the same country of origin, but not always with the same, linguistic, ethnic and cultural background, and their life experiences are often just as diverse. We hope to demonstrate, through the voices of Afghanistan-born and Afghan-descended people in this region, some aspects of settlement. By giving readers a selection of opinions and experiences, we hope to illustrate the scope and diversity of this community. To that end we believe this document will prove a useful resource for service providers, educators, students, government agencies and general readers. Aims of this profile To explore themes relevant to Afghan communities settling in the south-east of Melbourne To provide information on issues affecting the settlement of Afghan communities in the south east region To assist service providers in developing culturally appropriate services to meet Afghan communities' needs To assist in the development of more effective relationships between Afghan community members