By Sean Morris
MELBOURNE - Why does anyone leave their country permanently? For a better, safer life and more opportunities.
This year my family left our civil war-ravaged country, Liberia, with our dreams firmly fixed on new futures in Australia.
For many young Liberian migrants to Australia, furthering our education is a major goal. We know if we want to get better jobs, higher education, such as university qualifications, is a way for us to get on in life.
In our new home in Melbourne, it is easy to be distracted from our original aims because, as we settle in, reality settles in. We have to survive here, too.
Winston Johnson is from Liberia's capital, Monrovia, and has been in Australia for three years. Winston talked about his aspirations with me – we are both 19, but I have only been here three months.
Hopefully, after I finish VCE, I will enter university but Winston, who is presently working, gave me some pause for thought.
“I'm not thinking about university now,” he said. “I have moved with my jobs and have to take care of bills, and most of all, I have to take care of my family.”
Many Liberian youths in Melbourne want to focus on getting a job quickly; some want to obtain material things but mostly, like Winston, we have to help support our families - both here and back in Liberia.
There are other challenges that new Australians must face when thinking about education. Friends in the small Liberian community mention the lack of guidelines for entering university or TAFE and the confusion about which courses to choose, because there are so many.
Some don't think they are the “right” age to go university because they are in their 20s, or older, and feel that they should be working and not studying at this time in their lives.
Also support services such as AMES (Adult Multicultural Education Services) and particularly Centrelink place emphasis on finding employment as soon as possible, so many young Liberians such as Winston feel they should focus on jobs and not be “dependent.”
“I just want to be doing something to help me pay the bills . . . in the meantime uni is not on my list,” Winston said.
Because of this we are concerned about being trapped in work that “pays the bills” but won’t provide us with vocational qualifications to ultimately get a job with good career prospects.
As a community one of the most important things we can do is share our experiences, hopes and fears. We have many options and I was relieved to hear Winston sees university as a path still open to him.
“Definitely yes, I will try to go to uni,'' he said, revealing that he anticipates combining part-time work and study. “It will depend on if my job would allow me to do that as well; I would like to study business and also do something in management.”
