Why refugee coding group

I came to melbourne with the idea that I wanted to start a refugee coding group. I wanted to do something with the refugees because Australia’s treatment of refugees is horrible. As a migrant, I felt like the money I spent for getting my visas and the effort I put in in order to stay here was my endorsement of what the government is doing to the refugees, it’s like I’m saying yes I stand with the government. I wanted to say no I don’t.

I don’t trust big organisations. I don’t think they are evil pretending to be good, I believe they have the best intentions but when something is big, it moves slow inevitably. And working in startup environment, I like things moving fast. And when something is big, there will be processes to keep things in order, but those processes on the other side make us feel like a screw in a machine and make us feel small, it takes the human factor out to give way to efficiency. I don’t want to give up either, I want to do things fast and in the most personal way. Another more personal reason is that I applied for a volunteer role at ASRC but they rejected me with a generic email a month later, I felt hurt and that confirmed everything in my head. So I decided to do something on my own.

I don’t do many things well but working as a software engineer for 4 years, I have a rough idea of how the corporate world works, I know what skills I need and I know what to say and do to get the things I want. Even though sometimes I feel like I have zero social impact if not negative, every now and then I fantasise doing something else meaningful. The boring middle-class professional — it might not be the best thing to do but it is a very comfortable place to be in. It pays well and it is easy physically so one can have spare time/energy/money to think about something else. But not everyone is given the opportunity to be boring. I was shocked when I heard some refugees can work and access health care here but they are not allowed to study, which I think is a deliberate act to make them stay in the bottom of the society and stay invisible. So I thought if they would like to join the boring professional club, I would like to help them and be their resource and connection. Another thing is, practically speaking, software engineering is easier to get into compared to doctors, lawyers or architects which requires certifications or university degrees. It’s flexible so it could work well in the uncertainty refugees live in. One can work remotely in another country if they don’t have the right to work in Australia. If they end up going to another country, they don’t have to start all over again with new certificates/registrations to get, software engineer everywhere work pretty similarly. Thus the refugee coding group.

Getting Started

The first week I moved to Melbourne I printed out some posters. I didn’t want to go online and post on social media groups. One reason is just personal preference. I am not on social media and I don’t like technology so much. The other is I would like to try to do everything for this group in the most personal way in every respect including talking to real people. But talking to people is scary, I didn’t make this easy for myself. I didn’t know any refugees and I didn’t even know many people in Melbourne.

First I went to a RAC meeting with my posters as they were the only people I knew that have anything to do with refugees. Everyone seemed so serious at the meeting and I wasn’t sure when to bring my thing up, eventually I told them about I was trying to find some refugees to join my group and it went quiet. Later I did find out people were interested in what I do and gave me advice and helped me but at that moment I panicked, there was a voice screaming in my head “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??” The next few days my head got stuck in that moment and I questioned myself if I was doing the right things and if I was doing things right otherwise why wasn’t I making any progress. Along with the other stress from moving to a new place, I got sick and had to stay at home for a few days. The week after that when I got better and I worked myself up again, I went to the reception at ASRC and asked if I could speak to anyone from the team and introduce me to some refugees. They had the nicest reception people I have ever met, they were patient to listen to what I said and they were clear about what they would do so I was hopeful for a while. But afterwards I never got any followup from them. So I was disappointed again and felt a bit stuck on this and started thinking if my persistence in low tech is stupid and I should give up and go on social media. On that weekend I went to the world refugee day rally, Kath from RAC came asked me how my group was going and introduced me to a few people who know refugees and could help me spread the words. That worked, I got emails from three people who are interested in my group.

What did I learn this week

Things take time — I’m not a patient person and I don’t like things out of my control, I often do something and if nothing happens the next second I start screaming “this is not working what do I do now??” I adopted the low tech approach but my expectation remained a high tech one — wanting everything to happen instantly. But things from these few weeks has shown me things do happen, I should learn to sit down, take a breath and allow them to happen as they do.

Talking to people works — I had always known this, every time when I ask, people help but the worst case scenario always take up my mind disproportionally. And talking to people as a person is better than organisation. The personal the better.

I need to remember people’s names better — when Kath introduced me to people at the rally I was so nervous as I am always nervous to talk to people, I couldn’t remember any names even their faces. When I wanted to let them know my progress and appreciate their help, I realised I also don’t have their contacts. Next time, I should bring a notepad with me when I meet people and I can write the names done so I don’t forget it.

Read more on RefugeesCode Melbourne blog

Notes

*RAC — Refugee Action Collective Victoria

*ASRC — Asylum Seeker Resource Centre