Abe Nouk was illiterate when he arrived in Australia. Now an acclaimed spoken word poet and community educator, he speaks about his early years as a refugee, the marginalisation of young Sudanese men and his fierce love for his adopted country.

Abe Nouk doesn't know how old he is. For some time, the Melbourne poet thought his birthday was on January 1.

The more you encourage people, the better they do. They're not going to let you down. Abe Nouk

'It's a refugee privilege to think that I'm born on the first of the first,' he says.

'I'm one of eight siblings, and I found out all of siblings have the same birthday. My dad couldn't have been that precise!

'I got over the fact that I don't know how old I'm am. The bigger picture was to be alive.'

Nouk arrived in Australia via Egypt in 2004, having fled Sudan with his family. He didn't know how to read or write.

'We went to school with no clue what was going on. We were chucked into Year 9 with a bunch of Australian students,' he says.

'Seeing the kids talk back to the teachers—we'd never talk back to the teachers. We didn't know what to say. It was just a case of figuring it out, with everybody thinking that we were equipped when we weren't.'

He began to teach himself how to read after school.

'I got audio books and a copy of the same book and traced the words along.'

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's recent comments about 'illiterate refugees' were met on social media by a barrage of examples of formerly illiterate or non-English speaking refugees whose achievements and contribution to Australian life have been profound.

Nouk is just another of those.



You get the sense he'd be uncomfortable being labelled a role model, but his educational and social work with kids in Melbourne's eastern suburbs certainly positions him as one.

A newfound command over the English language didn't initially stop a series of quintessential new migrant experiences, though.

'Walking into Hungry Jacks for the first time, the first thing that came to mind was, "How come there aren't people lining up? They have free refills!" I didn't get it,' he laughs.

'My first mistake was making a toasted sandwich with my brother. We thought Vegemite was Nutella, and we just put a whole bunch of what we thought was Nutella on a sandwich, bit into it and it was a whole bunch of disappointment.'

But it was going to an AFL match for the first time with his brother that cemented his love for this country.

'Our first footy match was Collingwood and Carlton. There were about 80,000 people in attendance.

'During the match, the emotions were up and we thought, “This isn't going to end well.”

'At the last siren, everyone walked out peacefully. We thought, “This country is weird!” Weird good.

'The very fact that people can gather in one space to just cheer on their teams, and then at the end of it walk out peacefully is amazing.'

Nouk continually brings up how great he thinks Australia is, but when he's asked about how the media reports on Sudanese teenagers, his face drops.

'That's bullying. That's bullying from the higher-ups,' he says.

'I'm not going to justify the acts that some of these young people have done, but you have to realise that these are young people who are lacking in role models and father figures.

'We need to step up and mentor these young people. Get them to understand that they don't need to have violence as an outlet.'

Nouk says he frequently encounters kids in his workshops at schools who have recently attempted suicide and struggle with their sense of self-worth.

'When you call them African gangs, it only makes them feel more isolated and ostracised. I think we can do better, in terms of giving these people something to live up to.

'The more you encourage people, the better they do. They're not going to let you down.'

Nouk's work as a poet has taken him to places he could never have imagined.

In June, he'll travel to southern Western Australia to perform at the Denmark Festival of the Voice.

He beams about the opportunities Australia affords people, and how it makes him want to give back.

'This country epitomises what the rest of the world aspires to be,' he says.

'It's not about how much you own or have, if you're not being of service to your community and the people in your life, you've missed it. You've got to be of service.'

Listen to the full episode Tuesday 24 May 2016 Abe Nouk joins Vivienne Robertson and Donna Jacobs-Sife on Books and Arts. More This [series episode segment] has image,

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