On Friday, I was privileged enough to attend the National Conference celebrating the International Year of People of African Descent (IYFPOAD) hosted by the African Women Australia Inc. I also got the opportunity to share my experience growing up as a Ghanaian-Australian (I cover this in Identity battle 23/07/2011), being confused which side of the fence I was on, how I have used creativity to find myself and my Major Project (The Afroklectic Project).
I mentioned in one of the workshops focusing on youth that it’s all well and good that Government and Council bodies are supporting the refugees, but people seem forget those of us born here. Everyone assumes we are fine because we are born here. However, we too have a different kind of struggle.
Now I have conquered and I have found myself, but if these issues are not addressed, if there is no support, then how is the wider community going to deal with the new generation of children born to refugee parents in Australia.
People were shocked. Shocked because they had never heard of this, but they also understood where I was coming from. We also discussed the divide between those of us born here and those who came to Australia. It’s such a touchy subject in so many ways.
What can be done to address these matters? If you hold workshops, young people are not going to come. No one talks about it. We laugh about it all the time, but we don’t actually talk about it.
People in the workshop, mentioned using the internet to start the conversation. That’s the first thing I thought as well, hence Afroklectic. However, I don’t think the internet should be the only way.
I went home and I told my parents my experience at the conference, what was discussed at the forum and I what I spoke about. They couldn’t comprehend this whole identity issue, which I found quite frustrating so I gave up explaining. That’s even another issue. Our parents don’t understand our battle and we don’t understand theirs. How do we find common ground?
So many questions are spinning through my head! I hope we can organize a youth conference in some way mirroring what occurred at National Conference celebrating the International Year of People of African Descent to discuss these matters further.
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