We must tackle the growing violence among young African refugees and not abandon them

YOUNG African refugees are a significant challenge for authorities but their communities have huge potential and we mustn’t abandon them, writes Les Twentyman.

A massive brawl erupted at Federation Square during Moomba festivities between rival gangs. Youths run down Flinders Lane as running street battles continue through the night. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

AS Saturday night’s appalling violence in the city showed again, the influx of refugees from Sudan and Somalia in recent years is presenting fresh challenges daily.

We’re seeing some frightening consequences.

While many young African-born people have settled into our way of life, making a go of it at school, university and work, a growing minority of angry young men are turning to binge drinking and crime gangs — and causing the sort of mayhem we saw on Saturday when the predominantly Sudanese Apex gang fought the Islander 23 gang.

Unfortunately, the violence isn’t limited to Saturday nights in the city. I witnessed this problem first-hand at Footscray’s Western Hospital a few days ago when a drunken gang of young Africans terrorised patients in the outpatients’ waiting room. I’d called in for some minor treatment but didn’t expect the scene that confronted me.

One young man, bleeding from the mouth, was spitting blood on the hospital floor while his drunken mates harassed and badgered staff to treat him and intimidated elderly patients waiting to see a doctor. Security was called and police arrived in force to bring them under control. It was ugly and scary. We’re seeing similar incidents in Pakenham, Noble Park, Flemington, Ascot Vale and Sunshine.

As a society, we need to tackle this issue before things get worse but some say it might be too late.

Here in the western suburbs, we’re lucky enough to have one of Australia’s few young African youth workers reaching out to Sudanese and Somalian kids on the fringe, helping them turn their lives around and showing them that some of us care.

A Sudanese refugee himself, he knows what they’re going through. He was sliding through the cracks and at risk of becoming an angry gang member before he joined the basketball competition and youth leadership program run by Jim Markovski in Melbourne’s West. He’s turned his life around.

We need dozens more young African youth workers and role models like him if we want to sort out increasing youth unrest among our African community in Melbourne’s outer and inner suburbs.

A Saturday school in Flemington that my organisation supports helps about 60 young African kids improve their English and fast-track their learning. But then they still have to find work and jobs aren’t so easy to come by if you’re a young African trying to support your family.

Our African-born youth worker tells us not everyone here from the Horn of Africa is from a refugee camp, but all come from “broken countries or different hardships”.

“A lot of people in the Sudan and Somalia had jobs before they got here, but when they arrived, they found their qualifications were not recognised, so they had to get labouring jobs,” he said. “Some of them are working two or three jobs to support their families so they don’t have enough time to influence and guide their children”.

Jim Markovski working with the Redskins basketball club.

Many young Africans live in families separated or scarred by war so they look up to youth workers like my colleague, Jim Markovski, as a father figure and mentor.

Experienced youth workers like Jim don’t just work with the kids, they engage with their families. That is vital if we are going to soothe the anger and resentment felt by some younger members of our African community. We must embrace them.

Many of the dysfunctional refugee families arrived here having never seen made roads, modern housing and all the creature comforts that go with it. They thought they were in heaven, but some soon found their own hell. They didn’t speak English, their youngsters were picked on at school. They got angry, some turning to violence and others to alcohol because of a perceived lack of support, our Sudanese youth worker says.

“It’s very difficult growing up in Melbourne as a young African male because you are expected to support your family here as well as those family members left behind in war-torn countries.

“A lot of African kids don’t get enough support from their families and even those who succeed have pressures on them to support their family and community.”

He believes there are few if any government support programs to help marginalised young Africans improve their lot: “Give them jobs, help them find work and you’ll see positive changes.”

Police figures tell us African youths are “over-represented” in their crime stats. But we’ve only really got ourselves to blame. We’ve brought them over here and dumped them.

On the positive side, the next generation of kids from African families is looking exciting. We’ve had eight from our long-running basketball competition in the west travel to the United States to compete against other teams.

The great thing about our Redskins basketball comp is that it integrates kids from different ethnic groups, teaching them to support and respect each other.

And a young African kid called Atali, who plays for the Sunshine YCW Kangaroos, kicked five goals in their grand final last year and won the under-14s best-and-fairest in the Western Suburbs Football League.

It’s up to us. Our young people, wherever they come from, are our future. We need more support groups, more youth workers. But where does the money come from? Perhaps from some of the pokies revenue the government collects.

Coincidentally, many of the trouble spots we experience with African youths are close to pubs and pokie venues.

LES TWENTYMAN, OAM, IS AN OUTREACH YOUTH WORKER AND FOUNDER OF THE 20TH MAN FUND