The Story of an Immigrant Student: A Discussion Transcript Analysis

This discussion transcript presents the story of an immigrant student in Australia, detailing their experiences and the challenges they faced. The student recounts their family's journey from India, highlighting the difficulties of adjusting to a new culture and the struggles with religious discrimination, housing, and healthcare access. The transcript explores the impact of these challenges on the student's mental health, the difficulties of finding employment, and the complexities of navigating the immigration process, including legal and illegal means of entry. The student emphasizes the importance of governmental support for immigrants and the need for those considering migration to understand the realities and potential hardships. The transcript concludes with the student's reflections on the need for a more comprehensive approach to address the challenges immigrants face, aiming to provide a deeper understanding of the immigrant experience and promote empathy and awareness.

Running head: DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT 1
Discussion Transcript The story of an Immigrant
Student’s Name
University

DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT 2
Discussion Transcript The story of an Immigrant
4:30-4:32 In June 2001, I was born to two wonderful parents in Kochi India. My parents were
Muslims and this means that we were not similar to the rest of the population where the majority
of the people are Indians.
4:33-4:37 Both my parents had lived to hear and they used to tell me that they have seen this
place change slowly as capitalism and the need for business opportunities changed this place
slowly (Pulakkat & Shivapriya 2015, pp. 5). As the city started to grow, those who did not have
much were pushed to the outskirts of the city and only visiting the port to look for menial jobs.
4:38-4:42 When all this life place started changing, my parents felt that India was no longer a
good place since they could not move deeper into Indian suburbs but rather felt that moving to
Australia my provide the best opportunity for them to get better employment and improve the
life and even education of their children.
4:43-4:47 By the way, I forgot to tell you that I come from a family of two siblings where am the
eldest and I have a younger sister who was born here in Australia. I always tell her that she is
better being born here and does not understand what life in the past looked like.
4:48 I may not be able to tell you about my early infant life since it’s a story that my parents
have always avoided sharing with me. Every time I can my mother about it she breaks down in
tears.
4:49-451 India is a densely populated country, and this means that there is always competition
for everything apart from oxygen. The struggles that people go through to get employment in the
country drive most of them out to look for job opportunities somewhere else.
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DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT 3
4:52-4:54 While growing up, I had dreams like any other child and I wanted to be a doctor. I
didn’t know what type of doctor I wanted to become and I am not sure if the is relevant for now
since that dream must have been washed away by the storm of life that I witnessed while
growing up (Phippen 2016, pp. 4).
4:55 I have to admit that the life of an immigrant is never easy since it entails the challenge of
going into a new region which you are not familiar with.
4:56 Back in India, life was difficult but we had become used to it since we knew how to take
care of ourselves. My parents had lived to hear for all the time and understood the region very
well.
4:57-5:00 Before I tell you about my life as an immigrant perhaps you need to know something
about immigration from India. The easiest way that people use is through the boat which is the
reason why migrants who come here illegally are sometimes referred to as “boat people”
(Parliament of Australia 2019, pp. 4). This is because they always cross over by boat against all
odds in the water.
5:01-5:05 The other option is the legal process where one has to apply for a visa to live in
Australia. Coming from a family that had some little level of knowledge, my father opted for this
option since it offers better prospects and immigration security issues (Omidvar 2015, pp. 6).
This is the reason why my sister is lucky for being born in a country that has accepted her family.
5:06 Arriving in Australia was like a dream come true for me and my family. My father always
thought that if he gets a better job, then he will be able to cater to the education needs.
5:07 On my side, I grew up knowing that Australia will offer better prospects for us since I could
find a part-time job to support my family and also pursue my education comfortably.
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DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT 4
5:08 However, there are many challenges that we faced as a family and as an individual.
5:09 Life has not been easy here since we moved due to the challenges we have endured (pauses
and starts sobbing)
5:10-5:11 the biggest challenge that we faced is religious discrimination. In Christian countries,
there is always the fear of Muslims. Everywhere one goes, you can feel suspicion in the eyes of
people and when they discuss in low tones, you feel like they are discussing you.
5:12-5:15 The radical life of some Muslim sects within the religion have put the rest of us in
trouble making it difficult for us to live freely in a new environment. Being in a new place a new
country, we used to stay indoors and avoided talking to other people around us. This even
created suspicion but my father insisted it was the only way that we could protect each other.
5:16-5:19 To survive better and be able to mix freely with other people, we had to learn how to
dress without wearing a hijab on our head. This was against the Quran and Muslim teachings but
we had to do it. I remember seeing my mother shed tears every time she used to see me go out
without a hijab on my head.
5:20-5:24 Gender differences were also clear since I found the Australian society to gender
stratified. The stratification was systemic in that the challenges of being discriminated cannot be
felt if one is not keen. There is much preference for the boy child when it comes to opportunities
but the girl child seemed to thrive more in the world of favors.
5:25 Being a girl, it was difficult securing a job since society seemed to focus more on gender
roles and how males were capable of doing the job as compared to females.
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DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT 5
5:26:5:30 The challenge of finding suitable housing was a problem that we all endured. I
remember it was very difficult for my father since the only space that we found in an abandoned
building was enough for only two people since other houseless people were living here (Nuñez
2014, pp. 5). My father had to sleep in shifts with other people who were living here when some
of them went outside to find something to eat.
5:31-5:33It is in this houseless condition that I found myself in direct contact with drugs. Here, it
was common for people to use drugs since they offered a consoling effect to their problems.
Some used to say that they used drugs to sleep well while some argued that drugs acted like a
social identifier that connected them with those we were living with.
5:34 My father started smoking and using other drugs after two weeks because the environment
was no longer bearable for him. The thought of seeing his family leading an abject life was
difficult.
5:35 On my side, two reasons kept me out of drugs: my mother and the fact that I was a girl.
5:36 My mother was very supportive and she always used to encourage me that something will
happen one day and our life will change.
5:37 On the other hand, is a girl created the inability to use some of the drugs since I felt how
males were behaving when using drugs.
5:38 However, it took long for this mental experience to end since up to today, I feel flashes in
my mind.
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DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT 6
5:39 Another difficult problem is access to services like healthcare among others. In Australia,
private healthcare is very expensive. Managing healthcare without a job is one of the biggest
burdens that an immigrant can face (Cummings, 2019). The lucky thing is that we managed.
5:40 As immigrants, we struggle with mental health challenges that have become a part of our
lives since we cannot afford the cost. On the other hand, illegal immigrants fear being deported
back to their countries and will thus struggle with the mental health problems that they have
(Moret 2018, pp. 5).
5:41-5:45 In most cases, I witnessed cases of violence, rape, even torture within the abandoned
house that we used to reside. The experience of those who have tried to seek mental health
assistance is discouraging. I heard one saying that the experience was negative since their
statements were sometimes misunderstood leading to the wrong diagnosis (Parliament of
Australia, 2017 pp. 4). Another one also claimed that doctors have a general perception for the
homeless people and believe that most of them use drugs and have mental problems even when
they are only sick.
5:47As life went on, my father got employed in a construction company while mother managed
to secure a cleaning job in one of the retail shops around. This somehow changed our lives since
it was the beginning of the recovery journey.
5:48-5:49 It happened that the manager of the construction company was also an Indian
immigrant who came through “the boat” and settled in Australia. It is this job that later led us to
rent a small apartment shared by another family.
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DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT 7
5:46-5:47From here, I also started working as a nanny around the locality to save enough money
to go back to school. Since then I have been working as a nanny to save enough money that will
enable me to go to school next year.
5:47-5:8I am not sure if I will have saved enough but I am hoping that I will be lucky to get a
scholarship which will either finance my whole education or even partially reducing the burden
that I will have to deal with at the end.
5:48-5:49 My story is not about my problems but rather making people understand that migrating
to Australia or any other country does not always guarantee success. This is because there are
many challenges that immigrants go through. Some of these people are unaccounted for since
they do not exist in government statistics.
5:50This calls for the government to put measures in place for addressing the challenges that
immigrants face. On the other hand, those who have plans of migrating to Australia need to
ensure that they go through the right channels so that they can get a visa that guarantees them
permission to work.
5:52 I realized that most people who were living here illegally either were duped by travel agents
with tourist visas or entered the country through any other means (Australian High Commission,
2018).
5:53 I thank God that my parents used the right channels despite the challenges that we faced
when traveling here.
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DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT 8
References
Australian High Commission, 2018. Visas and migration: Immigration Fraud - Warning:
Migration Fraud - Warning!!. [Online]
Available at: https://india.embassy.gov.au/ndli/vm_fraudwarning.html
Cummings, J., 2019. 10 Difficulties You May Face as a New Immigrant in Australia. Baltimore
Post Examiner, January .
Moret, G., 2018. Migrants face challenges of adapting to new and very different life in Australia.
ABC News, 3 July .
Nuñez, C., 2014. The 7 biggest challenges facing refugees and immigrants in the US. Global
Citizen, December.
Omidvar, R., 2015. The biggest issues facing migrants today - and what we can do to solve them.
[Online]
Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/11/the-biggest-issues-facing-migrants-
today/
Parliament of Australia, 2017. 5. Additional challenges facing migrants. [Online]
Available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Migration/
settlementoutcomes/Report/section?id=committees%2Freportjnt%2F024098%2F25145
Parliament of Australia, 2019. Boat People, Illegal Migration and Asylum Seekers: in
Perspective. [Online]
Available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/
Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/CIB/cib9900/2000CIB13
Phippen, J. W., 2016. Australia’s Controversial Migration Policy. The Atlantic, 29 April.
Pulakkat, H. & Shivapriya, N., 2015. Bhubaneswar, Indore, Ahmedabad, Kochi are India's new
startup destinations. ET Rise, 09 Septenmber.
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