Claudia Garzon Ribeiro
“It is a long process to adapt and then you reflect on it and you can start understanding the magic”
Claudia Garzon Ribeiro
Country of origin: Colombia.
Occupation: Senior Policy Officer. State of Residency: VIC. Favourite place in Australia: Footscray. Upon arrival: Surprised by the process of crossing streets. It took her years to look in the right direction.
By Tamara Ortegon
Claudia is a Senior Policy Officer at the Department of Premier and Cabinet with experience in community development, program and project management roles across a broad range of cultural and regional settings, including working for the Jesuit Refugee Service in partnership with UNHCR in Africa and as a Community Projects Team Leader at the Migrant Resource Centre North West Region. Her work in Australia has ranged from the settlement service sector to government agencies, allowing her to continue developing a strong working knowledge of newly arrived and more settled communities and the barriers and challenges they face in Victoria. All her positions connected with strengthening migrant and refugee communities.
TELL US YOUR STORY
All my experiences come from the time and place I love, my beautiful Colombia. There I volunteered for four years as a teacher in a remote village. Before finishing my bachelor’s degree, I was part of the team that developed and implemented an innovative and award-winning environmental education program with families living inside conflict zones between guerrilla and government forces in Macarena, Colombia. I lived in Macarena for five years and due to the conflict and security issues associated with the location, I decided to embark on a new adventure, learning English. My mother was the happiest person because I would finally leave Macarena with promising opportunities for education anywhere around the world. My decision to study in Australia was base in two things: I do not like extreme cold and I disagree with the policies of the United States.
Like many others I came as an international student in December 1999. To survive financially I worked delivering junk mail, as a kitchen hand and as a cleaner, just as many others. I met my current husband at that time and stayed with him for a year before returning home to help me decide whether I wanted to make the move to Australia permanently. While I was living in Colombia, I was offered a position in another area affected by the civil conflict (San Pablo, Sur de Bolivar) were I work in a team managing an emergency program for internally displaced people. This was also a program delivered by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). Continuing my work with JRS, I moved to a refugee camp in Africa (Zambia) where I managed a team that provided relief to 670 physically disabled refugees, coordinated an education program for community members with a disability including English classes, Portuguese adult literacy, peace education, sewing and tailoring course, landmine awareness, training for carpenters, training in electronics and shoes making and repairing. Classes for Hearing Impaired and Mute Children and Braille Classes were eventually integrated into the program.
Australian Day celebration with refugee African families (2006)
During my time in Africa, I came to Australia to visit my husband. We got married, however, I returned to Africa to finish my work commitments. It was almost two years before I would finally return to Australia as a permanent resident. In Melbourne, I attended every single course I could access and became involved in all possible volunteering opportunities. A course for skill migrants call “Opening doors” and a volunteer opportunity at New Hope Foundation, literally, opened the doors to employment. First at the North West Migrant Resource Centre, then Department of Justice and now Department of Premier and Cabinet. My work in Australia has ranged from the settlement service sector to government agencies, allowing me to continue developing a strong working knowledge of newly arrived and more settled communities and the barriers and challenges they face in Victoria. All programs I have been involved are intending to understand these issues, designing and implementing services and programs aimed at address disadvantage and ultimately building the capacity of individuals and their families to integrate in a new environment and communities.
CHALLENGES
Family and Friends - Back in Colombia, you may not necessarily have money, but friends and family are there all the time. There are no scheduled appointments for catch ups, you just knock on the door. It does not matter when and how; people are always there. Funny enough, during my last visit to Colombia I thought it was too much!
Career opportunities - This is a difficult space to navigate. When you are newly arrived, your education or experience is not readily recognised. It is very common to start in the cleaning industry. Learning to understand the system and being able to utilise your skill set and passion can be a serious challenge. I continue to remind my colleagues that for a new arrival it is very difficult to ask questions when you simply do not know what to ask.
Language - You cannot imagine the experience of arriving at Sydney International Airport with an English-Spanish pocket dictionary and trying to exchange money, get to the bus station to access transport to Canberra and eventually your destination. Between sign language and luck, I managed it!
CONTRASTS
Claudia in Africa
Personal space - I grew up in an environment where we are physically affectionate, hugging and kissing was very normal and polite. When you were introduced to someone the formal greeting was to kiss them on the cheek. Do not do that in Australia! Australian people need personal space. Wow, the number of red faces I saw, I even possibly lost job opportunities.
Greetings – My mother visited us once before she passed away and my funniest memory of her visit was when she asked me for my neighbour’s names and about their life. My answer to her question was: I do not know, we do not really talk to the neighbours here; to which she answered: you have changed too much. She said that she would greet the first person that she passed on the street. Well, she did it, and it was an old European gentleman who did not understand a word my mom said but responded very politely to what my mom said: ahhh you see, they respond!
National identity - I grew in a very established suburb in Bogota, where my parents and great grandparents lived. We were taught to love our country, respect our parents, sing the National Anthem, go to church, listen to old traditional music, and how to dance. We learnt to love and eat our traditional food and a million other things. Colombian culture is there in every single action every day, but when I came to Australia, as a diverse society, there is no clear consistent cultural practice and that means that you do not really know what you need to learn to feel that you belong to your new country. It is a long process to adapt and then you reflect on it and you can start understanding the magic. You can be Colombian and Australian, that is the beauty!
PIECE OF ADVICE
Get a realistic expectation - Travel agents and schools market the beauty of Australia, however the reality is not that easy. You will not have a job waiting for you and most of the time you will struggle to get the job that you want. The conditions in Australia are different to what people might expect. You need to find information to get a realistic expectation and you cannot assume that someone who is a friend of a friend will automatically be willing to help you.
Keep working towards your dreams - Do not worry if things are not exactly as you want. Just keep working, live your life in a correct way, avoid thinking there is an easy way.
Listen to your heart - To be a migrant is not easy, we will always miss home until we realised that Australia is now our home. Sometimes you can feel that is not enough, that you will go back. I say, do your best, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
Closing ceremony. Refugee camp
IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS…
Claudia would love to continue working with migrant communities. She hopes to remain close to the Latin community and to be strong for her family. She also would love to have the time to start discovering more about her new home Australia.