Challenges Faced by John the Baptist (Mandaean Community) in Australia

This article discusses the challenges faced by John the Baptist (Mandaean Community) in Australia, including limited access to quality healthcare, education, and employment opportunities, as well as cultural conflicts. It also provides goals and priorities for addressing these challenges.

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Working with Community
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John the Baptist (Mandaean Community)
Introduction
John the Baptist (Mandaean Community) holds a special position in Australia. As an
immigrant community, the Mandaean Community forms part of the minority groups in the
country. Just like any other minority group, this community has been facing lots of challenges
that require intervention. The challenges should be addressed to make the community
comfortable.
Needs Analysis
The best way to know the challenges facing the community is to conduct a needs
analysis. From a sociological perspective, the needs assessment conducted points out that the
community faces the following challenges:
Limited Access to Quality Health Care: John the Baptist community has been facing a
problem of poor health care. As an immigrant community, these people came into the country
when they already had healthcare issues that require an immediate redress. How these people
fled from Iran and Iraq which are their mother countries was quite traumatic. The community
was forced to seek asylum in Australia because they had fled from racism, persecution,
torture, and other forms of oppression from their countrymen who have been overcome by
Islamic religious extremism and intolerance. That justifies why the community still requires
medical care to help in addressing their mental, emotional, and psychological health. Despite
the high prevalence of mental illnesses like depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD), anxiety, and stress, these people have limited access to quality healthcare services
(Wakerman, et al. 2017). Apart from mental ill-health, the community faces other health
issues like contagious, cardiovascular, and other communicable diseases. However, this
notwithstanding, the community members often find it challenging to access quality

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healthcare services. This is due to the cultural, economic, and social barriers that stand in
their way.
Limited Educational Opportunities: The needs assessment conducted revealed that the
members of the Mandaean community have no access to quality high education. In Australia,
the law requires that everyone should have a right to education regardless of their status in
society. However, the country still experiences inequality in its education sector. Although
there are some privileged communities like the native Caucasians, the minority groups such
as the Mandaean Community lack such opportunities. Meaning, the youth, and kids do not
get chances of going to school. Lack of accessibility to education is linked to many barriers
such as poverty and discrimination (Hartley, Fleay, Baker, Burke & Field 2018). The
Australian government is not very much concerned about the community because they are
immigrant minorities who are treated as second-class citizens. However, it is a bad trend that
must be eradicated. Education is an important tool that should be availed to everyone in the
country. If the Mandaean kids are educated, they can be guaranteed a good life as they grow
up. That happens because education empowers and creates limited growth opportunities.
Limited Employment Opportunities: The other information that has been revealed concerning
the Mandaean is that the community members have limited chances of getting jobs in the
country. Although unemployment is a reality in Australia, the truth is that there is a large
proportion of the Mandaean community members who are not employed. There are many
reasons why this happens. First, there is a high rate of illiteracy among the community
members (Delaporte & Piracha 2018). Australia is an advanced nation in which it can be
quite difficult for anyone to get a job without having a high level of education. The country
values professionalism that unfortunately lacks amongst the Mandaean community members.
The other reason why these people wallow in unemployment is because of favoritism and
discrimination (Anderson 2019). Many employers do not hire these people because they look

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down on them. Such employers prioritize other people like the Caucasians who they perceive
to be more competent and qualified than the Mandaeans. Lack of employment opportunities
is a serious problem that has been bothering the community.
Cultural Exclusivity and Conflicts: Mandaean is a foreign community that has become part of
the Australian immigrants. The community is known for its adherent to the Gnostic-linked
Mandaean religion. This shows that the community has a unique cultural heritage that, in
many ways, differs from the local Australian culture. Cultural differences are a major issue of
concern in the community. There is a cultural antagonism because there is a section of the
local population who do not understand and appreciate the Mandaean culture. Some people
believe that culture is barbaric and backward (Esmaili, Abbasi & Asadi 2016). The
Mandaeans also hold the view that the local Australian culture is bad and has nothing good to
offer. Such cultural conflicts are harmful because they do not benefit the community in any
way. Disrespect and lack of appreciation for the culture have been threatening the stability of
the community. It has become a major impediment to the prosperity of the community’s
religion as well. This is something that should not be condoned because it does not benefit
the community in any way.
Prioritization of the Community Needs
Mandaean is like any other Australian community that has unique problems. From the
needs analysis conducted, it has been established that the members of this immigrant
community are worse-off because it cannot, in any way, compete for the privileged sections
of the Australian populations including the native Caucasians. The immigrant and minority
status of this community make it be vulnerable to a wide range of social, economic, cultural,
and institutional challenges (Delaporte & Piracha 2018). In this regard, to redeem the

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community, all the identified challenges must be resolved. This can be done by prioritizing
the needs as outlined herein:
1. Provision of Safe and Quality Health Care: This goal should be given the first priority
because it will determine the prosperity of the community.
2. Provision of Educational Opportunities to the Community Members: This goal should
be the second in priority because it recognizes education as a key component of the
community’s progress.
3. Provision of Equal Employment Opportunities to the Community Members: The third
priority should be about employment creation. It focuses on creating opportunities and
empowering the community members.
4. Protection and Safeguarding of the Rich Cultural Heritage: Although equally
important, this area should come last. The community’s rich heritage must be
preserved at whatever costs.
Community Goals
The Mandaean community has needs that require a solution. As clearly illustrated in
the needs analysis, the community lags behind the rest of the Australian population. Its
immigrant status disadvantages and makes the community to suffer a great deal. In this
regard, to provide an ultimate solution to the identified challenges, the following goals should
be set and attained:
The first goal is to improve the health conditions of the community members.
Appropriate measures should be taken to eradicate all the healthcare issues that have been
troubling the community. This can be realized by improving access to safe and quality care.
The government should build enough healthcare facilities, equip them with state-of-the-art
equipment, and supply them with highly-trained personnel who can be relied upon to deliver

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culturally-competent care (Thomas, Wakerman & Humphreys 2015). Quality health care is a
priority area that must be taken seriously. A healthy society is a productive society.
The second goal is to provide educational opportunities to community members. The
government should enhance access to quality education. This should be achieved by
constructing schools, equipping them with the desirable facilities, and employing
professionals to teach the learners (Kearney & Glen 2017). Quality education is key because
it will empower the community and help in improving their living standards. Proper
education of the young populations can be a good idea for this immigrant community. With
quality higher education, the community members can be empowered to be in a position of
favorably competing with other Australians.
The third goal is to empower the community members by availing job opportunities to
them. For a very long time, this immigrant community has been discriminated against. The
community finds it quite challenging to get jobs. However, this kind of discrimination should
come to an end. The government should introduce affirmative action in favor of the
community (Delaporte & Piracha 2018). Whenever there are any jobs, the community should
not be excluded. Instead, they should get hired just like the rest of the Australian population.
The fourth goal is to preserved protect the cultural heritage of the community. The
community’s rich heritage must be preserved at whatever costs. This should be done by
taking several steps. First, the community’s religion should be protected from any
interference that might lead to loss of membership (Arabestani 2016). To increase
membership in this religion, the community should be free to practice its religion. It should
publish religious books and teach its people about the benefits of its religious doctrines.
Conclusion

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John the Baptist is a Mandaean Community that has been struggling to assert its
position in the mainstream Australian society. As immigrants, the community has been facing
lots of challenges that have been hindering from living like the rest of the people. The needs
analysis shows that the community has been facing a myriad of challenges including poor
integration, poor health, and inaccessibility to education, medical care, and employment
opportunities. All these must be ultimately addressed by implementing the predetermined
goals.

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Bibliography
Anderson, K.H.H., 2019. Can immigrants ever earn as much as native workers?. IZA World
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Arabestani, M., 2016. The Mandaeans’ Religious System: From Mythos to Logos. Iran and
the Caucasus, 20(3-4), pp.261-276.
Delaporte, I. & Piracha, M., 2018. Integration of humanitarian migrants into the host country
labour market: evidence from Australia. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44(15),
pp.2480-2505.
Esmaili, R., Abbasi, B. & Asadi, R., 2016. Ritual place of water among Mandaean religious
group. International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926,
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Hartley, L., Fleay, C., Baker, S., Burke, R. & Field, R., 2018. People Seeking Asylum in
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Thomas, S.L., Wakerman, J. & Humphreys, J.S., 2015. Ensuring equity of access to primary
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