This Community Engagement Plan intends to shed light on the Iraqi Immigrants community in Fairfield. The Iraqi Immigrants community in Fairfield has emerged as one of the major refugee communities in the nation of Australia. Every year thousands of new immigrants as well as refugees from the nations of Iraq, Syria and other terrorist hit nations arrive at this community in order to seek a safe abode far away from the violence and the horrors of their motherland (ABC News 2018).
The Iraqi Immigrants community in Fairfield is important because it provides the much needed asylum to the refugees wherein they can fulfill their most basic psychosocial needs and other kinds of basic needs. It is pertinent to note that because of the large influx of refugees from the war and terrorist hit nations like Iraq, Syria and others this particular community is often called by the name of “Little Baghdad” (Sebag-Montefiore 2018). This community offers the refugees not only a new way of life which is drastically different from the one that they have experienced at their own motherland but also provides them the opportunity to fulfill their life aspirations as well (Dailytelegraph.com.au 2018). The influx of these refugees has at the same time helped the nation to solve the labor issues that the majority of the business enterprises operational in the nation faced and has also made it a multicultural one (Dailytelegraph.com.au 2018).
The community in Fairfield was formed in the year 2011 by the local government of the nation with the primary motive to offer a safe abode to the refugees as well as the asylum seekers from the various terrorist and war hit nations (ABC News 2018). The formation of this particular refugee community can be seen as the ardent observance of the “1951 Refugee Convention” dictums of the United Nation (Sebag-Montefiore 2018). The primary idea behind this declaration was the belief of the UN that all the human beings have equal rights and thus they should be given the opportunity to fulfill not only their basic needs but other psychosocial needs as well (Dailytelegraph.com.au 2018).
The community is mainly a Muslim one although in the recent times there had been attempts on the part of the local and the national government to make the community is a culturally diversified one. One of the major reasons for the feasibility as well as the sustained growth of this particular community is the fact that it offers the kind of environment wherein the refugees cannot not only escape from the terrors and the horrors of their motherland but also fulfill their psychological needs (ABC News 2018). The majority of the dwellers of this particular community speak in Arabic and this helps in the creation of the kind of environment wherein the refugees feel at home. The opinion of one of the refugees called Aida Kerfarkes, who is a member of this community, is pertinent to note in this context. According to her, “We knew when we got here that this was the place we were going to call home and this was going to be our country” (ABC News 2018).
The initial population of the community during the time of its formation back in the year 2011 was around 3000 (ABC News 2018). However, in the recent times it is seen that the population of the community has increased by more than threefold and this is one of the major challenges that the community is facing at the current moment (ABC News 2018). This rapid as well as unprecedented increase in population can not only be attributed to the influx of new refugees from the war and terrorist hit nations almost on a regular basis but also because of the fast birth rate which is visible within the community (Sebag-Montefiore 2018).
The rapid and unprecedented increase in the population of the community has significantly limited the growth prospects of the members of the community. For example, in the earlier times, the resources as well as the opportunities that were being provided by the local and the national government of Australia were surplus for the dwellers of this community (Wright et al. 2016). However, it is seen that with the increase in the population of the community the resources or the opportunities provided by the local and the national government of the nation has not increased in a substantial manner (Slewa-Younan et al. 2016). This has given rise to an intense competition within the community and the members of the community had to fight to get the kind of opportunity which they were hoping to get when they sought asylum in this nation.
Another significant challenge that the members of this particular community face is the lack of educational as well as job opportunities that they have (Guajardo et al. 2016). This can be attributed to the discrimination as well as the stigmatization that they had to face in the nation because of belonging to a Muslim and war or terrorist hit nation (Guajardo et al. 2016). It is pertinent to note that this substantially limits the options as well as the opportunities that these individuals have at their disposal and at the same time hinders the fulfillment of their basic psychosocial needs (Slewa-Younan et al. 2016). Language is another challenge which these people face since it is seen that the people of Australia normally speak English whereas the mother tongue of these people is Arabic.
The challenges that the members of the community are facing at the current moment clearly indicates that some of the most basic psychosocial needs of theirs are not getting fulfilled and this is limiting their growth options in the nation in a significant manner. The majority of the members of this particular community have been the past victims of the atrocities of terrorism and war crimes and these were the major reasons which motivated them to seek asylum in Australia (Li, Liddell and Nickerson 2016). The most basic need of these individual would be a place wherein they are able to lead their life in a peaceful manner without having to worry or fear about danger to their lives or property. Access to adequate as well as right kind of education is another basic need of the individuals of this community. This is important since it would not only help them to get better quality jobs but would also enable them to fulfill the other psychosocial needs of theirs (Li, Liddell and Nickerson 2016). Furthermore, with access to better education they would no longer have to depend or compete for the resources or the opportunities which are being provided to them by the national government (Slewa-Younan et al. 2015). Access to quality treatment services is another basic need of these individuals and this would not only help them to lead a better life but would also enable them to control the high birth rate which is a major cause of worry for the concerned community (Puvimanasinghe et al. 2015).
The major goal of the members of this community is to create the kind of environment which will not only be free from the violence of their motherland but would also provide them the opportunity to fulfill their basic needs. This is likely to require an effort not only from the members of the community but also from the local as well as national government. The government of the nation needs to ensure that there would be no violent activities within the community and the members of the community would also have to ensure that they refrain from indulging in violent actions (Li, Liddell and Nickerson 2016). Another major goal for the community should be the acquisition of the language of English. This will help them to communicate in an effective manner with the people of Australia. This can be achieved through various English as Second Language Courses (Wright et al. 2016). The acquisition of the language of English would help them to have access to better educational facilities and this will in turn provide them better job opportunities.
The members of the community in order to have better prospects of success would have acquire various kinds of skills like the acquisition of the language of English, education, jobs, health care services and others. These would help them to not only fulfill their psychosocial needs but would also help them to lead their lives in a much better manner.
Conclusion:
To conclude, the various communities have emerged as important parts of the societies of the modern times. It is pertinent to note that the members of a particular share some common needs as well as requirements and also face common kinds of challenges. The prospects of a community depend to a large on the effective manner in which they are being able to resolve these challenges. Thus, the members of the community under discussion here not only needs to get familiar with the language of English but also needs to have access to better education, job, healthcare and other kinds of facilities so that they are being able to fulfill their needs and lead their lives in the best possible manner.
References:
ABC News. 2018. Fairfield struggles to cope after increase in refugee arrivals. [online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-02/fairfield-struggles-to-cope-after-increase-in-refugee-arrivals/8145250 [Accessed 6 Oct. 2018].
Dailytelegraph.com.au. 2018. Fairfield’s waiting game. [online] Available at: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/fairfield-advance/fairfield-waits-for-help-with-refugee-settlers/news-story/63120d77e7dff165e05023f5ebd37457 [Accessed 6 Oct. 2018].
Guajardo, M.G.U., Slewa-Younan, S., Smith, M., Eagar, S. and Stone, G., 2016. Psychological distress is influenced by length of stay in resettled Iraqi refugees in Australia. International journal of mental health systems, 10(1), p.4.
Li, S.S., Liddell, B.J. and Nickerson, A., 2016. The relationship between post-migration stress and psychological disorders in refugees and asylum seekers. Current psychiatry reports, 18(9), p.82.
Puvimanasinghe, T., Denson, L.A., Augoustinos, M. and Somasundaram, D., 2015. Vicarious resilience and vicarious traumatisation: Experiences of working with refugees and asylum seekers in South Australia. Transcultural psychiatry, 52(6), pp.743-765.
Sebag-Montefiore, C. 2018. Little Baghdad: a chance to break bread with Iraqi refugees fleeing war and trauma. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/18/little-baghdad-a-chance-to-mingle-with-war-traumatised-iraqi-refugees [Accessed 6 Oct. 2018].
Slewa-Younan, S., Guajardo, M.G.U., Heriseanu, A. and Hasan, T., 2015. A systematic review of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression amongst Iraqi refugees located in western countries. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 17(4), pp.1231-1239.
Slewa-Younan, S., Mond, J.M., Bussion, E., Melkonian, M., Mohammad, Y., Dover, H., Smith, M., Milosevic, D. and Jorm, A.F., 2015. Psychological trauma and help seeking behaviour amongst resettled Iraqi refugees in attending English tuition classes in Australia. International journal of mental health systems, 9(1), p.5.
Wright, A.M., Aldhalimi, A., Lumley, M.A., Jamil, H., Pole, N., Arnetz, J.E. and Arnetz, B.B., 2016. Determinants of resource needs and utilization among refugees over time. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 51(4), pp.539-549.
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