Listen to Margaret Odur:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
MARGARET ODUR is from Parajok in southern Sudan. She is a member of the Madi tribe and her husband is from the Acholi tribe. She came to Australia in 2004 to join her son, but still has adult children in Sudan and Egypt. Sometimes she returns to visit them. She was a very active volunteer at her church in Sudan and would like to volunteer at her church in Australia but does not know English well enough yet to be able to communicate there. Margaret loves Australia because she can have a healthy, peaceful life without bullets and war.
It pains me because I left some of my children behind … [but] I love Australia because they have treated me for my sickness … healthy life, there’s peace … don’t hear bullets.
The community are happy because they … have traditional dance and they get together whenever there is a communal gathering, social gatherings – things concerning marriages, concerning death, concerning festivals, birthday of children; they come together. They co-operate. They are happy. I go to Madi community festivals and then I also go to Acholi community festivals. Whenever the occasion happens, I am a participant.
Interview by Nadyat El Gawley
Interview interpretation by Hermann Androga Awola (project participant)
Photograph by Marian Abboud