JOURNAL/WEEK 5/THE MIGRANT WOMAN IN AUSTRALIA

The videoo presantation today was in relation to the waves of Immigration to Australia ,with particular emphasis on what happened to the Aboriginal community throughout history,and the experiences of migrant women.As a migrant I can relate first hand to this experiences. I would like to recount my own experiences since my arrival in Australia, in doing this, I would like to give a brief history on my background and country of origin.Originally I come from Ghana. Ghana, a West African Country lies in the center of the West African coast, she shares boarders with three French speaking countries namely, Cote d'Ivoire to the west , The Republic of Togo to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. The Republic of Ghana as it is now known and called ,was formerly known as the Gold Coast mainly because of its large mineral gold deposits. Ghana lies just to the south of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic ocean.The present population of the country is 22 million, Ghana has a tropical and warm climate but temperatures vary with seasonal elevation and changes.The attraction of Ghana is based on its legacy as the center of the gold,Ivory and slave trade during the 17th and 18th century initiated by the British .Ghana was also the first African country to win back its independence from their colonial masters the British in 1957.The political environment has been stable for over twenty years and the general atmosphere is peaceful as a result of the practice of democratic rule.Ghana is one of the most peaceful African countries in the whole of Africa .Most ideginious Ghanaians are fishermen or farmers but there is a large majority that are well educated. Ghanaians are also known for their warmth and hospitality.In short, this is a brief but concise picture of the country I migrated from to settle in Australia with my my family.We left the shores of Ghana on the 21st of August 2003. It was a three day flight with a transit through South Africa, Johannesburg.We arrived in Perth on the 23rd of August 2003 and connected a flight to Adelaide where we were met by my husband who had by then been here close to a year.We spent the night in Adelaide and proceeded to Whyalla where my husband was working at the time.In all honesty I was not ready for the 'move' to Australia due to obvious reasons .I had a good job in the family business back home,my Dad was a hotelier and all his children except for one of my sibblings who trained as a Doctor ,the rest of as were sent off to hospitality Institutes so we could train and help run the family business ,the other reason was I was skeptical of the unknown but I had my childrens interest at heart and since you cannot eat your cake and have it,I decided to come.We got the children into schools.There are three of them .Two boys and a girl.Once they could find their way to and from schoolI decided to get a job.I sent applications and my resume evreywhere and anywhere but no one would hire me . I needed the job, one,to earn an income and also to get me out of the house. I was very lonely and because I was used to doing something all the time, I couldnt stand the thought of staying home twenty four hours doing nothing. In all this the weather was also foreign ,it was either too cold or too hot,I missed home terribly.To kill time and break my boredom sometimesI would go to the local church and do some volunteer work,but this didnt stop me from missing home because half the time I was all by myself ,with the kids at school and the husband at work I was virtually alone.The change was radical,at home we were surrounded by friends and family,we could greet people on the streets without knowing them without them thinking we were going to ask for money from them ,there was always someone with a smile or a kind word out there,but it was so different here,people were so busy minding their own business,they made it obvious they did not want to know,some actually made you feel like 'nothing'.At that point in time ,I just wanted to go back home,it wasnt easy on the children either,they came back from school with stories about other children being so unkind to them.It was all a nightmare.It was hard to comprehend since we were brought up to love people irrespective of colour , race or social status. My husband was not happy with his job either so he applied for a change and Hawker was available so we left Whyalla for Hawker.Hawker is a small country town in the Flinders ranges with a population of about four hundred and fifty people but with a catchment area of about a thousand people for the hospital.Majority of the people in Hawker are warm and receptive .My husband loves his work with them. Our children had moved on to high school and tetiary level respectively in their education and we needed to move to a town that would cater for these requirements.We looked for proxity to Hawker and decided on Adelaide.To regress a bit, overseas doctors in Australia have to serve a number of years in the countryside.The country towns fell under various categories. Depending on what part of country town the doctor works will determine the number of years he has to serve.The number of years range from five to ten years.Until this requirement is met, they are unable to work in the cities.My husband has roughly about a year and a half more to be able to get his unrestricted provider number that would enable him work anywhere in Australia.With the education of our children being a priority, we moved to Adelaide at the begining of February 2005. My eldest son came to Tea Tree Gully Tafe , the second ,a girl went to Flinders University ,and my last a boy went to St Ignatius College.I believe in the saying that ,"behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining."Things have improved, especially with the chidren, they have made friends and are doing well in school . My youngest son is in his first year in University of South Australia , the girl is in her third year doing a double degree at Flinders Uni and the eldest is doing his diploma in Business and Financial Studies here in TTG. We have also obtained our Permanent resident visas and that has brought a great deal of relief in the amount of money we had to spend paying school fees for the children. The fees have actually reduced to about a third of what we had to pay previously In comparison Adelaide is much more exciting with varied opportunities . I have been able to enrol in this course and have met a lot of wonderful people . Most people in Adelaide are much more receptive.There are a lot more Africans and I have met some from my country as well.I have been back home since.I lost my Dad last year in August so I went back for the funeral.It was a mixed kind of feeling,meeting all the family once more but under those circumstances was more than one could take but what can one do but to take it in one's stride.Little by little we are getting used to the lifestyle some of the ways of the Australians.In the past it was so difficult to understand most people when they speak to me in English, even though I could read and write, I became like an illiterate due to the Australian accent. Sometimes I cant help but wonder what it realy is like for my other brothers and sisters who have been displaced by war in their various countries and are here on humanitarian visas, some cannot speak a word in English. For me Its much much better now, and the fact that I can go back home anytime is enough consolation .In effect, I could look back and reflect on the Whyalla days as a learning period, hard as it seemed then.I still miss home though from time to time .The children like it here and are thinking of making Australia home but for me I guess you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, home will forever be Ghana.