Dreams of university were far from Majid Kerar’s mind when living in a refugee camp in Sudan; but dreams have changed for the better now for the Gold Coast local.

Majid arrived in Australia in 2015 with his parents and nine siblings, after living in a small refugee camp where knowledge about the outside world was hard to come by

“My experience living in the refugee camp was good, but we didn’t have access to the internet, which made it almost impossible to explore and learn new things from different backgrounds,” he said.

“I didn’t know much about the western world or what was happening outside the area I lived in. I didn’t even know Australia existed until I came here.”

When Majid arrived to the Gold Coast, he was ready to take on a new world.

“When we first landed here, I was happy because it was a new beginning, but we couldn’t speak a single word of English, which affected the way we settled,” he said.

“That was a big barrier to overcome, and the second difficulty was the cultural difference.

“Coming from a small refugee camp to the Gold Coast is a huge change and we didn't understand the culture here.

“My caseworker, Koren, helped me settle into Australia, particularly with school-related activities and creating my resume.”

As Majid entered his last year of schooling at Keebra Park State High School last year, his caseworker encouraged him to apply for university and assisted him with scholarship applications.

“I was offered a place to study a dual Bachelor’s Degree of Business and Exercise Science at Griffith University, and I was also awarded the Public Education Foundation’s Friends of Zainab Scholarship because of my academic, sports and community leadership achievements,” Majid said.

“I will use the funds from the scholarship to buy textbooks and other required equipment, so it will greatly help.

“My family left Sudan because we didn’t see a future. I am very happy and proud of myself for getting into university, and I am looking forward to starting a new chapter of my life and getting a job in these fields in the future.”

For more information about Access’ settlement work, visit our website here.