What every life-history feature article writer ought to know about recording migrant and refugee stories
Unique life stories are all around us and we only have to open our eyes and ears to learn from them.
This has been a goal of Nicola Gray, founder of social media and web platform New Humans of Australia.
Gray has a background as an English language teacher and college manager working with international students and refugees.
In 2016 she was inspired by the popular Humans of New York website to start her own life-story project.
“I wanted to ‘humanise’ refugees and other kinds of migrants by telling their migration stories,” Gray said.
“I wanted Australians to see how much struggle goes into migrating to a new country and how often migrants succeed.”
Gray has compiled two New Humans of Australia books and has a readership of about 120,000 on her Facebook page.
Read on to find out more about New Humans of Australia and how Gray approaches each story…
What people are saying about New Humans of Australia
New Humans of Australia readers’ response has been very supportive.
Mostly people realise how privileged we are in Australia.
For example, here are some recent New Humans of Australia Facebook comments for Batool’s story.
Batool arrived in Australia in 2001 by boat from Iraq and studied to be a doctor.
Zoë James What an amazing story! I can’t wait to share this with my Year 6 class on Monday. We’ve being learning about the amazing impact migrants have on our society and this is a truly inspiring story to share. Australia is greater soon place having gained you Batool 😍.
Ellise McLoughlan Oh Batool, what an incredible story – it brought tears to my eyes. I am so pleased you have been able to fulfill your dream in Australia.
John Emmett Such an inspirational story – what resilience and courage! Amazing. And grateful that you are here in Australia and with your friends and family.
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How migrant and refugee stories are recorded
Each New Humans of Australia story takes between 4-5 hours.
I do not plan the interviews but simply allow the person to ‘tell their story’.
A volunteer transcriptionist then transcribes the whole interview.
I then edit the story down so that it is less than 1000 words.
The story is then sent to the interviewee for checking.
A volunteer photographer takes the person’s photo.
Here are three examples of recent New Humans of Australia stories:
Celina: South Africa, arrived 2005 – “Being Indian in South Africa was a very weird thing – there were black and white people fighting and you were like a nobody, just stuck in the middle…”
Alia: Pakistan, arrived 2011 – “After school, I did a Bachelor degree in Psychology, which was quite unusual for a Hazara girl in Quetta at that time…”
Handy: Iraq, arrived 2016 – “ISIS forced 250 000 Christian families out of their homes in our village in Iraq…”
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Overcoming the lows, celebrating the highs
The hardest part is when a person decides they no longer want to tell their story at the end of this process, which occasionally happens.
This is quite frustrating, especially for the volunteers who have donated their time for nothing.
I now discuss this in advance with interviewees.
However, the most rewarding part is when I get messages from New Humans of Australia interviewees telling me how wonderful the experience has been for them.
For example, Hassan from Afghanistan said: “I don’t normally cry, but when I read all the supportive comments on my story, it made me cry with happiness!”
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Final say: New Humans of Australia
Gray said interviewee comments like Hassan’s were her favourite part about New Humans of Australia.
She encouraged readers to interview loved ones to record their life stories too.
And her No. 1 tip for interviews?
“One of the most useful questions I have found is: ‘How did you feel when that happened?’,” Gray said.
“This adds emotion and colour to a story.”
Gray is on the lookout for new migrant stories from around the country.
If you were born overseas and have a story to tell get in touch via the New Humans of Australia website or Facebook page.
Happy writing!
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Who’s life story would you like to know or help write? I’d love to hear about it. Send me an email or leave a reply in the comments section at the end of this article.
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This article first appeared on the website Forever Young Autobiographies.com.