Before arriving in Australia Ku Htee had never been outside of the Thai refugee camp she had grown up in. She had never been in a car, and she barely spoke any English.

Earlier this year, people gathered to mark Refugee Week at an old school building nestled in the bush at Fryerstown in Victoria. The event was a celebration of refugees and the community they are a part of. There was music, an abundance of food, and several familiar faces from this series.

Coming together in celebration

Hussnia and her family fled Afghanistan more than ten years ago as refugees. Even after many years living in regional Victoria, nothing is taken for granted in her household.

Ten years after fleeing Afghanistan Hussnia is still grateful for the simple things

Ku Htee’s journey from a Thai refugee camp to community leader in Bendigo

Originally from Kenya, Joy moved to Australia as a skilled worker. The people of Horsham welcomed her and her family, but Joy had to work extra hard to prove her skills as a midwife.

Baby whisperer: Joy's midwifery skills in demand from Kenya to Horsham

When Nita first moved to Australia from Indonesia with her husband Aaron, she found it hard to connect to a community. She was used to a culture where you had people surrounding you all the time. It took time and a move to the regional city of Bendigo to work out how to find a community here in Australia.

Nita created her own sense of community in Australia with Gamelan

Running away from home at the age of 16 to join the rebel army sounds like a plot from young adult fiction, but that decision was the start of Rebecca Wour's journey to find home in Australia.

Teen Rebel: Rebecca's path from South Sudan to Bendigo

When she was five years old, Duang sold home grown vegetables at the local market in her small town in Thailand to help her family survive. Seventy years later, after a full and varied life, Duang is once again selling food at her local farmers markets here in Australia.

Full circle: Duang’s journey from Northern Thailand to Central Victoria

Lhamo was heavily pregnant with her daughter Tenzin Nagi when she escaped across the Himalayas, moving only at night with her husband and other refugees. 28 years later they live in regional Victoria, with Tenzin grown up and working as a nurse. She helps her mother share their journey in this episode of New Home.

Lhamo's journey across the Himalayas by night, to a new life in Australia

Sensational headlines, fear campaigns and dehumanising language can be all that we hear about migrant and refugee communities settling in Australia. And too often migrant women are framed only as the mother of the children or the wife of the male refugee. But each one has her own story and reasons for travelling across the world to put down new roots in a strange land. On New Home, hear from migrant and refugee women who are quietly building new lives in regional Australia, making friends, and finding community.

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Ku Htee’s journey from a Thai refugee camp to community leader in Bendigo

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