IT started as a day like any other, but ended as one which would haunt Nana Zikayu for the next three years. Two men, unknown to Nana, burst into her family’s house in southern Sudan and kidnapped her mother.
Nana, then 17, had no idea where the men took her mother, let alone whether she was dead or alive.
Frighteningly, it’s an all too common scenario in Sudan where religion dominates the political landscape.
“Some people come to your house and ask you to go with them and some don’t come back,” Nana said.
“After a long time, they will kill the person without reason.”
Nana’s mother, Martha Sam, was a member of the Sudanese parliament when she was taken away from her six children. Martha’s crime was speaking about politics to the media.
“She spoke on radio, that’s where the problem came from,” Nana explained.
So it may come as a surprise that Nana, the unofficial leader of Pakenham’s Sudanese community, is working for a politician and yearning for a career in government.
The 29-year-old is employed as a part-time administration officer for Eastern Victorian MP Edward O’Donohue and was recently elected as the publicity/information officer of the Victorian Sudanese Equatorial Association, based in Dandenong.
After working in Mr O’Donohue’s Pakenham office for more than a year, Nana has decided she wants to pursue a career in government.
“My mum was a politician, but I’ve become more interested in that after working here,” she explained.
“In Sudan it (politics) would just put you in trouble.”
Nana migrated to Australia in 2003 after spending four years in Egypt as a refugee. She fled Sudan after threats were made against her former husband.
“My husband was working in a company and some people accused that company of giving information,” she remembered.
“I just thought something would happen to him. They wanted to put him in trouble.”
While organising to relocate to Cairo, the couple discovered that Nana’s mother was living in Egypt.
Three years had passed before Nana reunited with her mother in Egypt, but their time with each other was short-lived. Martha left Egypt for the US just three days before Nana gave birth to her son Patrick, now 9, who met Martha for the first time last year during a trip to the US.
Nana and her former husband had also applied for asylum in the US, but were rejected. After four years of waiting, the couple was accepted into Australia.
They started their new life in Dandenong, which has a strong Sudanese community with a population of about 2000 and various groups and support services.
It has an AMES campus, the largest provider of English language and settlement services in Victoria – a massive help to Nana, who knew very little English when she arrived.
“It was so hard. In Sudan I had been to school but it was in Arabic and I only learnt a little bit of English.
“I completed 510 hours of AMES but I went back and said I needed more,” the now qualified interpreter said.
After splitting with her husband in 2005, Nana and Patrick became possibly the first Sudanese family to live in Pakenham.
“When I came here four years ago it was just me,” Nana said.
She estimates there about eight Sudanese families living in Pakenham. As a qualified interpreter, Nana is often called upon to help those settling in.
“If I’m not doing anything at home I will go and visit them,” Nana said.
“When we came here (Australia) it was so hard. Some places you don’t know and you don’t know how to get there.
“If you have that knowledge it’s good to help people.”
Nana also helps members of the Sudanese community in her role as publicity/information officer of the Victorian Sudanese Equatorial Association.
She was elected onto the association two months ago, despite not putting her hand up for the job.
“I only went (to AGM) to see who would win the election,” she said.
“I’m very active in the community, but I thought I couldn’t do it. It’s a lot of work and I have to look after Patrick.”
But members of the Sudanese community knew Nana had the talent and drive to do the job. The association’s purpose is to keep everyone informed about everything from deaths to community meetings.
“If something is happening back here or at home, they contact us first and we give out the information,” Nana explained.
“We SMS the whole community so they know what’s happening.”
Outside work and her volunteering, Nana enjoys singing at the St Patrick’s Parish in Pakenham. She sings at most of the church’s major events and is also looking at forming a local singing group for Sudanese people.
Nana is also thinking about taking up part-time study in the area of international relations, international development or social work.
“Something that deals with people and communities,” she said. “I like to help people. It’s what I would really like to do.”
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