Since the 1990s, the average time a person will spend as a refugee has risen from nine years to a staggering 26. UTS researchers are collaborating with refugees in Indonesia, harnessing the power of education to change lives.
Education that opens doors
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Researchers
Lucy Fiske
Nina Burridge
Damian Maher
Faculty
Arts and Social Sciences
Partner
Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre
Few of us could imagine being stuck in a foreign country for 26 years without help or support. Yet this is the reality for many refugees around the world, and the number of humanitarian migrants has reached an historic high.
In West Java, Indonesia, one refugee community has taken matters into their own hands, determined to make their children’s lives as ‘normal’ as possible, establishing football teams, a karate club and even their own school — the Cisarua Refugee Learning Centre (CRLC). Today, CRLC has 200 students and 17 volunteer staff who are supported by academics at UTS.
Dr Lucy Fiske is one of those academics. She first came across the centre in 2015 through one of the school’s founders, Muzafar Ali, who quickly drew her in to the school’s community. Fiske now serves on the school’s board and has used her networks and resources to connect refugee teachers at the school with teacher academics at UTS, and expand the school’s Australian support network.
“CRLC delivers much more than education – it provides people with meaningful activity during exile, protects against depression and anxiety, and helps people develop new skills in language, leadership and confidence,” says Fiske.
To date, nine families of CRLC alumni have resettled in Australia, the USA and Canada. All have made the transition smoothly and become actively involved in their new communities — making friends, finding work and pursuing their studies.
Inspired by CRLC’s success, there are now eight refugee-run schools in Indonesia providing education to well over 1000 children and using and developing the talents of many adult refugees. Fiske and her team work with four of the schools, building teacher skill and knowledge.
Fiske says, “The way refugee communities organise themselves really challenges public perception that they are helpless, unskilled or dangerous. These communities are made up of capable, determined and creative individuals with an interest in contributing to society.”
Regular teacher training sessions are delivered onsite or online. Fiske sometimes shares her lecture notes with teachers who are interested in taking tertiary-level courses but have no access to higher education.
The UTS staff involved have also collaborated with the team in Indonesia to publish journal articles and participate in art exhibitions and public debates:
“Our first goal is to provide immediate assistance to refugee communities by supporting their education program. But we also want to change public perception among non-academic audiences.
“Many of us don’t realise that global political decisions affect their lives directly. We have recently seen a person being granted entry to the United States, but the offer was suspended almost immediately because of the current administration’s decision to stop refugee intake,” she says.
While this can make the whole team feel frustrated and powerless at times, Fiske affirms that this actually fuels her desire to continue her work.
“It’s challenging work, but our UTS team is driven by the love of people and commitment to justice. We know that changing the hostile environment for refugees globally is a very problematic task, but we can see that small changes matter in the lives of real people,” says Fiske.
Related video
Fifteen minute extract from ‘The Staging Post’, a feature documentary by Jolyon Hoff.
Learn more about the film and upcoming screenings.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/video_thumb/public/video_thumbnails/-Phh1g6NDHE.jpg?itok=5kKs2C_M)
Transcript
Image credits
Photographer (people eating corn): Khalil Payeez
Photographer (all other photos): Muzafar Ali