Ashoup Morwell Ater, a former refugee and now the CEO and founder of Kowanj Australia and Kowanj Africa, a charity organization providing support to South Sudanese refugees.
Radio Tamazuj sat down with her to talk about the activities her NGO is carrying out to support refugee communities.
Below are edited excerpts:
Q: Can you kindly introduce yourself to our readers and listeners?
A: I am Ashoup Morwell Ater. I was actually born in Wau in then southern Sudan. Then in the midst of the Sudanese civil war, we moved to Khartoum, and then we proceeded to Egypt when I was seven years old, and then from Egypt to Melbourne, Australia. I have been living there ever since with my family, and this is where I have completed my secondary and tertiary education and identified my passion for charity
Q: Could you tell us about your time in Egypt as a refugee?
Yes, we were resettled in Australia as refugees, one of the very few families that arrived in the 1990s. Then we had that influx of refugees in 2005 that also arrived in Australia, so certainly, I was a refugee.
Q: How did you defy all the odds and become an entrepreneur and the CEO of a charity organization?
A: I guess it is always amazing when you are recognized for the work that you do and the difference that you are making within the community. So that recognition, you know, adds to my passion to be able to do the work that I have been doing and even greater.
So it feels amazing that there is community support. It feels great that you know everything that has been done has made a difference because that is what I sought after always to be able to create a positive impact and something tangible that can benefit other people.
Q: Could you tell us about the activities that you carry out among vulnerable communities?
A: I have mentioned earlier, Kowanj, which actually means to help or to assist you, translates to that. It was established to support refugees to reintegrate into a Western system, so that is in Australia.
You have people that come from Kakuma camp or even have come from different countries. They are generally traumatized, and so when you bring them into such an environment, if there is not a proper integration system, you will find that there are many breakdowns, so we support those people displaced from their own home country into this new country to settle. Moreover, here in Africa, we are looking to just address basic needs such as shelter, healthcare, and food items.
Q: You are the founder of Kowanj Australia, and now you are back in Africa to help the community. Let us look at some of those initiatives that you were able to initiate in Africa.
A: Kowanj Africa was established to address the immediate needs of the South Sudanese refugees, in particular my people and my community.
After the outbreak of Covid-19, we saw that there had been a decline in other NGOs that had been helping refugees across East Africa, and you know, we are talking about a situation that was already dire because of Covid-19. So I commenced a campaign to be able to address the basic needs of orphans, women and the elderly as the target group.
It just started by providing meals. We understood and knew that there were children that went to bed without meals a few times a week. So what I know is you have dinner every night, but there are children that actually do not have that opportunity. And I thought if I can get support from my community in Australia, to be able to come here to support this vulnerable group, that is something that I was pushing, and I saw that there is a greater need, and I said to myself, if I can’t do it who is going to do it, so I must do it.
Q: Let us look at Kowanj in terms of sustainability. Where do you get funds?
A: Well, at the initial stages of the program or the relief program for South Sudanese, I have used my own funds. However, we, as a registered charity, are allowed to raise funds.
So we have a fundraiser certificate where we can go out and say we have a particular group in a particular area and put events together to raise funds so we can get funds from the local government just in terms of putting forward a proposal to what we’re trying to achieve and we have got those registrations where philanthropists that have got the heart to help out in Africa would put up their funds.
So there are different avenues where we are able to raise funds based on our accreditations and the registration that we have.
Q: We also learnt that you are sponsoring students. Could you please tell us about that?
A: Yes, when we established the initiative for Africa, we looked at different regions and looked at the needs. For example, in Kenya, we know that healthcare is very critical. We also know that it is very expensive, and we know that people do not get health aid because there is just not enough money to do that.
We are looking to address that by setting up a centre where refugees are able to get good healthcare without having to pay. They would otherwise have to pay here and support the Kenyan doctors by getting professional development and equipment training.
When we look at the educational part, we identified that in, let us say, Sudan and Egypt, where there are many South Sudanese refugees in Cairo, there is not a lot of work available. So you will find that parents will go get a job, do overnights, doing different jobs. And that is just enough to pay the rent and to feed the children, and then schooling becomes something else.
We know that in Egypt there, the healthcare sector is a little bit cheaper, so it is not much of a priority. We have identified that area in Egypt as educational support that would be the greater need versus health care in Nairobi as a greater need.
Q: Where specifically are you located in terms of health services, and how can people access those locations?
A: In collaboration with Kenyan doctors and perhaps in the near future with some qualified South Sudanese doctors, we are looking at establishing a medical centre that will address the basic health issues and then into the diseases that impact the South Sudanese refugees, and that will be in a place like Nakuru, which is quite central.
I believe it is central to the camps and to Nairobi, where refugees can use a card to come in, to be treated, and to have some medication as a part of the service.
So I will just tell you, generally, this is what it is going to look like, so it’s a way of supporting the country that we are in, which is Kenya, and it is a way of supporting our South Sudanese people, who have got a lot of health challenges and it’s also a way of providing jobs and creating jobs for the people.
Q: So your initiatives are targeting Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Egypt, and Kenya, including the urban refugees.
A: Yes. So our main target will be the South Sudanese refugees, although when someone with challenges, children from a different country who are also displaced, come in for help, we cannot turn them away.
Q: What would you say was most one, one of the most successful things that you have done?
A: Well, I would say there is a couple of things that we had done when we established one, especially in Australia. There was a narrative that needed to be changed; there was a particular policy that needed to be amended to support our people.
So when you talk about refugees coming into a new country, you need a policy that will help them integrate, and you need a model that will help them. So about the establishment of Kowanj, we were able to develop a model that is actually very effective and very relevant to people that come from displaced backgrounds. That model worked so well that it was looked at by our state government, and because of that, we were able to see a change in the way they have funded their employment services.
So I will give you an example, they would have a service that would provide refugees support, but it was a generalist. Now they’ve made it into two sections, special support and generalist support for people with multiple challenges to get a job, gain skills and get a job and maintain that job and progress within that job. So it is always a result of the model we’ve put in place that allows someone that didn’t speak the language to flourish, someone that never worked in their life before, someone that has been suffering from violence and trauma to be able to just nicely transition.
So I’m very proud of the changes that we’re able to demonstrate. Our organization has been selected by the federal government in Australia as a part of a local Jobs program, that’s an initiative that was established in 2020, and Kowanj is a representative and a member of the task force to represent the culturally and linguistically diverse communities, which will include obviously all the African communities and the Arab communities because there are many Syrian refugees. So for me, that is a significant achievement and, of course, award-winning programs under the same model.
Q: So, who are the main donors to this Kowanj Programme?
A: Local government, state government and the federal government. When I say that is because the way it works is each government level has different programs that they can fund, and they have different organizations that they can fund, and we are able to have access to all three levels of government that have funded us and obviously philanthropists. We are funded by one of the largest philanthropists in Australia, called the Paul Ramsey Foundation.
Q: How is your relationship with the government of South Sudan?
I am very open, and for me as long as I am doing something for the benefit of the marginalized people of South Sudan, I am willing to collaborate with anybody within the government. Obviously, we are looking at addressing very critical issues for the people of South Sudan. I always advocate for my country, South Sudan, to the Australian government, and I think that if you have not seen it, there was an interview that I have done with a federal Member of Parliament with whom I discussed some critical Issues and items that should be brought before the Parliament of Australia to help support my people and my country.
Q: What do you think the South Sudanese in the diaspora should do to help their people back home?
A: There is a lot that people in the diaspora can do, that is because, in every area that you look at, there is a need. In every part of the country, there is a need.
So if I focus on a particular area of humanitarianism, I cannot address everything. So people that have the knowledge, skills and resources living in different countries overseas should be able to be a part of the solution.
For my area, for example, I am focusing on, let us say, just shelter and healthcare, but there are other areas like sustainability, like, helping people get jobs and become independent. That is another area that someone can look at or many people can look at. So there are so many things that people can put their resources into and make a difference.
And there are some young people that have done some great things in terms of sports or in terms of areas like fashion, and they have made a little bit of a difference, and they could set a good example for the next generation. So I definitely call upon those living even in Australia where I live and different countries to be a part of the solution.
Find something that you love, find something that you’re passionate about, and you know, just do your part. You don’t have to be a part of any government if you don’t want to, but you can start something that will make a change for the community because the community is suffering.
Q: What are your plans?
A: Well, the main plans here are to address the health crisis. We are looking to set up a medical centre that will be well-equipped. We are seeking support to bring in medication that is much needed. Once I went to visit certain communities and families, I found that people are living with all sorts of pain.
Also, we are working on an educational system that will allow young people that have achieved highly to get a scholarship to be able to obtain further studies in various areas. I cannot really reveal where those areas will be, but this is a part of a plan we are looking to set up.
In addition, of course, in places like Cairo, Egypt, we are looking and we have already started to help young people in secondary schools and some people within the universities as well in areas like medical and technology to get scholarship funding.
Q: What is your last message to the people of South Sudan?
A: It is not just going to be up to one big organization to come in and to help everybody, but let us get into the habit of being willing to help each other and to walk and work in unison and in unity. If we can get into that practice, whatever help will come from above or from a bigger place or from a large organization, it is only going to make this better. But everybody has to play a role here, and everybody has to be offering their own.
Charity in their own way. It does not have to be anything big, but it’s a habit that we need to get into, of caring for each other, of, you know, working in unity, of saying that, you know, South Sudan is one and it’s not about communities, it’s about one nation. That is really my message to the people. My main message to the people: Let us walk in unison in 2023. Thank you.