Long journey out of Africa

FOR LOVE OF OZ: Stanley Yokwe’s journey through life has taken him from subsistence farming in his war-torn homeland in Africa to helping community groups deliver sustainable agricultural and environmental outcomes in WA.

Well educated and now the regional land care facilitator at a natural resource management organisation in Geraldton, Mr Yokwe and his wife, Margaret, were among the lucky refugees to escape civil war and find a sense of belonging in WA.

“I felt blessed. We didn’t believe we would be welcomed in Australia because of previous experience in South Africa, Malawi and Khartoum (Sudan). You never feel that sense of security,” Mr Yokwe said.

“But right away when we came to Perth, we felt welcome, we felt loved and we felt that it is a place where God wanted us to be. We felt part of this country and people really embraced us and welcomed us, regardless of who we were.”

Mr Yokwe was born into a family from the Pojulu tribe of South Sudan, subsistence farmers who harvested a bounty of fruit in the fertile countryside. They lived comfortably in a grass-roofed mud house in the predominantly Christian country and spoke English and the local language, Bari.

He was in his teens when South Sudan fell into civil unrest and his parents urged him to go to Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, in the north of the country, which was relatively untouched by strife.

“My parents … they really thought that if they kept me in the South I would be conscripted, and if not conscripted, I would end up not living because many of my generation, people of my age, lost their lives in the war,” he said.

In 1989, after he finished high school in Khartoum and was accepted at a university, Sudanese military officer Omar Hassan al-Bashir led a revolt that overthrew the government of Sudan and, with the support of Muslim extremists, began to impose Islamic law. By March, 1991, Sudan was under Sharia law and was no longer safe for English-speaking Christians.

“I found myself in a very terrible situation. I had to venture out of the country. It was very dangerous,” Mr Yokwe said from his home in Geraldton.

“If you did not devise an official way of getting out, they would say you are a rebel and you were getting out to join the rebels. And once you are caught, they will immediately kill you.”

Fortunately, he was able to appeal to a relative in a neighbouring country. They wrote a letter promising work, which Mr Yokwe used to obtain an exit visa. In 1991, he fled to Malawi and went on to South Africa after Nelson Mandela was elected president in 1994.

Unable to find work in a country struggling with its own problems, he obtained a university scholarship and over the next eight years achieved a degree in agriculture and two postgraduate degrees, in sustainable agriculture and development planning in agriculture economics.

The South Sudanese man experienced the resentment of many South Africans, who saw refugees as a threat to their own employment prospects.

“It was hard. In terms of security it was terrible,” Mr Yokwe said.

“You couldn’t go to the public place, like going with your friend, you were bound to be attacked … and we had to restrict ourselves.”

In 2003, Mr Yokwe and his wife Margaret, whom he married in 2000, applied for a visa under the Australian refugee program. They were accepted and months later, in June, 2004, arrived in Perth where they were housed in a furnished home, with food in the fridge.

“I couldn’t believe myself,” Mr Yokwe said.

“I was overwhelmed and grateful to God. I thought this was an answer to our prayers. It was a time for change. We settled in well, we didn’t encounter any difficulties, because although I have a strong accent, I could find my way through many things. And we did, in a very short time, resettle.”

With qualifications under his belt, Mr Yokwe was offered a doctorate research project at a Perth university, but after his parents died in South Sudan he felt the need to support his two teenage brothers.

“I wanted to bring them here … I couldn’t sleep, I was thinking I can’t be able to live here when my brothers are suffering and I don’t even know how they are managing,” he said.

By then an Australian citizen, he put his studies on hold and in 2007 took up a two-year contract with Department of Agriculture in Geraldton. Since 2009, and now the father of six children, he has worked with Northern Agricultural Catchment Council, where he feels he can give back to the country that gave him refuge.

“I was bought up if someone treats you well, you have to treat that person better,” Mr Yokwe said.

“My current job gives me a sense of peace that I’m doing something. I don’t like the notion of being the recipient, not the giver.

“I don’t have words to describe this country, how happy I am and how grateful to be here.”

• For Love Of Oz is an occasional series about people born oversees who now call Geraldton home. Click' here ' to read more stories in this series.