With so much negative press about our Sudanese Community, I thought this one was worth a read -

IDENTITY: GOY LOK

Maybe just me, but i'm more interested in how he ended in a refugee camp in Ethiopia than at a footy club. Missed opportunity by the writer.

Edited March 11, 20187 yr by dee-tox

1 hour ago, dee-tox said:

Maybe just me, but i'm more interested in how he ended in a refugee camp in Ethiopia than at a footy club. Missed opportunity by the writer.

I had some experiences with youth in Adelaide from the Sudan. All of them had evacuated Sudan in murderous conditions to be placed in Ethiopia in 'refugee' camps - often for years, some up to a decade - living hand to mouth in treachery and horrible conditions to avoid a return to Sudan. In this Ethiopian phase of their homeland evacuation, they were allocated refugee immigration status in a Western nation, for example: Australia. There was little choice in this 'allocation' or when it might take place. One lad, having been forced to clap and laugh as he watched his parents being dismembered, hacked then shot in his Sudanese homeland - waited 12 years for an allocation to live - and if it had not eventually come through, he would have been 'eliminated' from the algorithm. We are possibly talking about many hundreds of thousands of young people here, for all of those years after the most horrific initiation to refugee desperation. Females, in general, suffered unquestionably worse. The silence of respect is due. Welcome to Australia, Goy Lok. Let us hope your sporting career brings you great joy.

35 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

I had some experiences with youth in Adelaide from the Sudan. All of them had evacuated Sudan in murderous conditions to be placed in Ethiopia in 'refugee' camps - often for years, some up to a decade - living hand to mouth in treachery and horrible conditions to avoid a return to Sudan. In this Ethiopian phase of their homeland evacuation, they were allocated refugee immigration status in a Western nation, for example: Australia. There was little choice in this 'allocation' or when it might take place. One lad, having been forced to clap and laugh as he watched his parents being dismembered, hacked then shot in his Sudanese homeland - waited 12 years for an allocation to live - and if it had not eventually come through, he would have been 'eliminated' from the algorithm. We are possibly talking about many hundreds of thousands of young people here, for all of those years after the most horrific initiation to refugee desperation. Females, in general, suffered unquestionably worse. The silence of respect is due. Welcome to Australia, Goy Lok. Let us hope your sporting career brings you great joy.

What is most sad about this is that, unfortunately, many of these young men, and in some cases your women, are being exploited and pushed into lives of crime by silent assassin's who promise them the world if they knock off a few mom and pop stores. Imagine having lived through what you described. How could you possibly comprehend or understand what it takes to be a "good" citizen? It goes beyond simple integration. To be blunt, I feel that Australia has bitten off more than it can chew with some of these young men, not to say they shouldn't be here, but the only way the community and these young men evolve into upstanding citizens is if they have role models to guide and empower them. Unfortunately, they have no fear of the law or God. They need real guidance. Hopefully some of our upcoming Sudanese AFL players can provide that. Otherwise I feel a genuine divide that splinters the Sudanese community away from the rest of the country.

2 hours ago, praha said:

What is most sad about this is that, unfortunately, many of these young men, and in some cases your women, are being exploited and pushed into lives of crime by silent assassin's who promise them the world if they knock off a few mom and pop stores. Imagine having lived through what you described. How could you possibly comprehend or understand what it takes to be a "good" citizen? It goes beyond simple integration. To be blunt, I feel that Australia has bitten off more than it can chew with some of these young men, not to say they shouldn't be here, but the only way the community and these young men evolve into upstanding citizens is if they have role models to guide and empower them. Unfortunately, they have no fear of the law or God. They need real guidance. Hopefully some of our upcoming Sudanese AFL players can provide that. Otherwise I feel a genuine divide that splinters the Sudanese community away from the rest of the country.

As you say, there is probably a certain amount of rehabilitation, counciling and support that some of these people require.  But in terms of biting off more than we can chew - Australia is a wealthy country with good social and physical infrastructure and if we can't help people in this sort of predicament, who can? In my view the media and political persecution of this group of people is reprehensible and very unfair.  Personally I have never seen first hand any problems with Sudanese or other African immigrants.  The only time I notice them are respectfully partispating at my wife's church and doing the kind of dirty, hard jobs many Australian born kids don't want to do like cleaning and pushing trolleys.

I think the article rightfully does reconise that Aussie Rules is one of the sports (perhaps Cricket would be another) that offer greater opertunities for greater multiculturalism and integration.  Just my observation that sports like soccer and basket ball that seem to lead to more segregated race based teams.  At the end of the day, all sports offer a much better alternative to engaging young people than gangs and general shanagans, but I do think activities that encourage interaction between people from different backgrounds are preferable to those which perpetuate completely seperate cultures.

By way of background Sudan is constantly the subject of civil unrest and its President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is wanted for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for his crimes in Darfur.

Good luck Lok 

Mum my kind of Goy!

Seriously all the bad press just makes too many people blame everyone. I went to school with Muslims and they were lovely, yet some people have that “blame one, blame them all” mentality. Same with the Sudanese.

Last year had a lovely chat with a Sudanese guy in a bar. Just friendly chit chat and certainly didn’t seem like a guy driven by hormones.

Edited March 12, 20187 yr by Cassiew