By Ann Marie
NEARLY half the West’s Karen migrants are spending their summer improving their English at a Hoppers Crossing school.
About 400 Karen people have migrated to the West since the mid-1990s, fleeing mainly from Thai refugee camps after being forced as an ethnic minority from their Myanmar (formerly Burma) homeland.
Mr Ganemy Kunoo was the first Karen migrant to arrive in the West, in 1995. He said this is the fifth year of the free English-language summer school.
“We have more than 170 young people and adults here – it’s the most we’ve ever had,” said Mr Kunoo, who is also national general secretary of the Australian Karen Organisation.
The migrants are learning under the tutelage of about 40 volunteer tutors at the Glen Orden Primary School.
“The most important thing are these volunteer teachers. These are people who teach with their hearts,” he said.
The school also freely provides its classrooms.
School principal Elizabeth Dobson said the school was “pleased to do our bit to welcome new people”.
The students, who range from beginners to advanced learners, study for two hours every morning during the three-week program.
Mr Kunoo has also helped to organise Karen literature classes for his compatriots, taught by well-known Karen academics.
“We are a growing community here and we want to be sure we mix in our new home, but we can’t forget our old one.”According to the Victorian Foundation for the Survivors of Torture, more volunteers are needed to teach the classes. For more information, contact Kathy Cooney at Foundation House on 9388 0022 or 0438 211 785.
