If you follow the White Nile south from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, until just north of the border with South Sudan, you will find the Nuba Mountains.
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There, Niemat Darar’s family – her sisters, nieces and nephews – live in caves to stay safe from bombing in a conflict that has marred the African nation of Sudan for more than two decades.
Mrs Darar’s children in Orange could not live more different lives to their cousins – they have a roof over their heads and go to school every day.
Mrs Darar and her friend Saydea Gumeiz are two of the refugees whose stories are being celebrated in the Orange Regional Museum as part of refugee week.
She fled Sudan when she was a teenager, spending weeks trying to get from the Nuba Mountains, through villages and across scrub land to Khartoum and on to Egypt, before applying to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to apply to live in Australia.
Knocked back after 12 months, she and her husband applied to the Australian embassy directly, and after three years of living in a refugee camp in Egypt, she and her family settled in Sydney, and eventually moved to Orange.
She joined Mrs Gumeiz, who made her way via Juba, which is now the capital of South Sudan, and then to Egypt before being accepted by the UNHCR.
Orange has welcomed them with open arms – Mrs Darar said she “doesn’t know how to describe it”.
“People here have a good heart,” she said.
Mrs Darar said she was always made to feel welcome and comfortable by locals, and many people have become involved or helped with her and Mrs Gumiez’s charity, which helps knit and make clothes and sanitary items for women in Sudan.
While Mrs Darar was helped by the immigration department, Mrs Gumiez was helped by Orange City Council’s migrant support officer Anni Gallagher, while both women went to TAFE in Orange, which also helped teach them English skills.
They both wanted to thank the people of Orange for welcoming them with open arms, and hoped more refugees currently waiting in Egypt, Uganda and refugee camps around Africa would be able to make their way to the colour city.
Both Mrs Darar and Mrs Gumiez will be speaking at the Orange Regional Museum at a refugee week event at 6pm on Wednesday night.
Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
