By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
HOPE has proved a valuable commodity for South Sudanese refugee Gatwech Gatluak.
Mr Gatluak is a guest speaker for a Restoring Hope ‘celebration’ this Thursday, organised by Women’s Health in the South East as part of Refugee Week.
At some stages of his life, hope was almost all Mr Gatluak had. Fleeing scenes of carnage, he left behind family and walked hundreds of kilometres for seven months to reach a refugee camp over the Kenyan border in 1996.
Many family and friends back home had meanwhile perished or disappeared. “It was very dangerous. There was a lot of fighting, a lot of bombs. Not a lot of people I know survived,” Mr Gatluak said.
He waited at the camp for seven years until a friend sponsored his migration to Australia. During that time, his application to live in the US was cancelled after the September 11 attacks.
Some friends he knows have languished in the camp for 15 years. When he revisited the camp in 2007, his friends saw that he had “completely changed”.
Up till then, they just accepted their own lives as normal – “I just wish my friends from the camp get a chance to come here,” Mr Gatluak said.
When his uncle picked him up from Melbourne Airport, he felt like it was home. Since then there have been milestones. Driving a car has been liberating for someone who has trudged great distances and rode a pushbike in Kenya.
Mr Gatluak is studying business and administration and works as a part-time facilitator for the domestic violence group In Touch. But his big aim is to land a full-time job – to be able to pay the rent and bills.
Mr Gatluak is looking forward to swapping stories with other refugees at Restoring Hope this week.
The event is described by WHISE as a celebration of the sense of hope that accompanies refugees as they flee their homelands. The event includes cultural performances, cuisine and activities.
It’s on at The Castle, Hemmings Park, Princes Highway, Dandenong, from 1-3pm on Thursday. RSVP on 9794 8677 or whise@whise.org.au.
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