3.5.2. Acknowledging the Challenges of Migration and Adapting

Despite the challenges many had encountered, participants refused to see themselves as victims. They seemed to have chosen to look for the positive opportunities that Australia offers and opted to focus on what was necessary to achieve their goals of having a successful life in Australia. Many described the initial challenges, and how they overcame them with a focus on their family betterment:

*I felt my status become really low. My status* [in original country], *came with a lot of respect. So here, I just felt like I lost my status. But I do not know whether you call it resilience or what it is, I thought, you know what, this is a new beginning and I said, 'This is a new beginning, because this is a new world', and I focussed on the children*. (Awinja)

*It has been an interesting journey, it has had its ups, but it also has its downs. What I can say is the opportunities for the children here are much better. So if someone wanted to come, just have your goals set out. Just be clear on what you really want because if* *you are coming because you want to make a lot of money very quickly, you might be very disappointed. You have got to learn to look at those positives around. If you want your children to have a better life, then you need to clearly know that you would have to sacrifice a lot, on your part as a parent* . . . *I think that was the main reason why we decided to come, because at a certain time in your life, it stops being about you as a parent and it is about your children and if you can focus on that, then you would save yourself a lot of heartache*. (Julia)

Participants were very aware of the need to integrate within Australian society. While they seemed adamant that they did not need to fundamentally change who they were, they also argued that they *should* adapt to social norms in the new host nation:

*I think you need to integrate when you move to a country, you need to integrate with citizens of that country* . . . *Friends for me come from any group, so I integrate with everybody and I think integrating makes a big difference. Because then, you do not feel isolated. You will find if you keep to your [country of origin] community, you talk about [country name] social issues rather than connecting on the issues that are happening here* . . . *you will become homesick, you will always think about [country name]*. (Jabali)

Jabali added that in the resettlement process, '*what worked for us is to integrate with the local community, that made a big difference*', thus emphasising the need to build connections with Australians from diverse backgrounds as an essential part of successful resettlement".

An additional aspect to this theme was participants' belief that that integration should be a two-way process, and not a unidirectional or assimilatory process [32]. This would require the host community to also adapt, by developing an understanding of some African cultural values and way of life. A two-way process, they argued, would have bi-directional benefits for both African migrants and mainstream Australian. Several participants also considered that since Australian is a settler state built on migration, they deserved to resettle as migrants because they were determined to contribute to building their new country. Sally reflects

*Africans are equally deserving to be here, we have equal rights to be here. But I think Africans need to be internally strong ... because the challenges will come. It is not about if they will come, but when they will come, and when they do come, what are you going to do with it. Will you let those challenges pull you down? Or, you are going to let those challenges even make you stronger, and more determined that you are here, and you are going to benefit from being here and also contribute*. (Sally)

The determination and optimism expressed by Sally was also mirrored by other participants who added that their excellence and deservedness to be in Australia contributed to their successful resettlement.

#### **4. Discussion**

People choose to migrate for various reasons including to access new employment or education and better opportunities [33,34], and to escape civic unrest or conflict [8,35]. Although there is now a significant emerging body of knowledge on African migrants in Australia, most of these studies have focused on refugees, so the focus of this study on skilled migrants addresses a significant gap in the extant literature [9,35]. Despite the significant challenges including racism [9,32], difficulty accessing employment [2], discrimination [9] intergenerational issues [8,36] and micro-aggressions [37] that seem to dominate experiences of African migrants during their resettlement, most draw positivity and optimism from religion, faith, hope, and community-oriented attitudes which appear to nurture resilience and social connections. Positivity and optimism have been identified in the literature as factors that build resilience among migrant groups [29,38].

For participants in the current study, the intention to migrate to Australia seemed to have been made mostly for the purpose of bettering the future opportunities of their children and families. As noted in their narratives described elsewhere in this paper, the emphasis on the positive contribution made to Australian society emerged as a strong

theme. It is reasonable to hypothesise that these attributes are informed by collectivist value systems—as embodied in the philosophy of *Ubuntu*—but also partially as a response to dominant and harmful narratives about African migrants in Australia, which are frequently deficit focused and connected to negative racialised stereotypes [20,39]. Consistent with previous study findings and the journeys of this study's participants, migration promotes a different ecological environment that fosters the diversity of culture, with an interweaving of different ways of life that includes changes to views, systems, values and aspirations [40,41], which are well demonstrated perspectives in this paper.

The social resilience frameworks [16,42] provide a robust understanding of the mechanisms that foster resilience through multi-layered factors. Resilience has been described not only as an individual psychological trait, but as a social phenomenon that is mediated by individuals' cultures and social ecology [16]. The current study findings demonstrate that participants displayed significant resilience that enabled them to cope effectively with the challenges of migration in Australia, and positively contribute to the Australian socioeconomical and ecological systems. Individual resilience (personal qualities/traits, education background, skills, ambition, etc.), the availability and accessibility of resources such as community, and government support, all contributed to reducing resettlement challenges.

Supporting the observations of our participants in relation to religion, a multitude of research studies have identified religion, faith and prayer as protective factors that mitigate the adversities of migration and build resilience [42–44]. Whilst resilience is a psychological process, it is an outcome of social processes that exist in relationships between people, systems, institutions (such as churches), organisations and networks [45]. For our participants, the social aspects of church attendance, participation in faith-based organisations and related activities, and activities within their own and other families, provided a positive source of resilience-building through interpersonal connections. Similar observations have been made in the literature, identifying these components to be among protective factors that enable positive adjustment to migration [40,41,45].

Supplementary forms of social support provided by other families, African communities, organisations and other social networks were acknowledged as a significant source of cultural safety, fulfilment and belonging, which is consistent with African cultural norms in regard to collectivism and *Ubuntu* philosophies. [22,24]. The thematic display of social support and social networks in participants' narratives underscored the value of *community* that was that was not necessarily based on close familial ties, but which exemplified the value of Afrocentric philosophical frameworks of *Ubuntu.* This African philosophy relies on a prioritisation of collectivist and group identity values in comparison to individualistic values within Western societies [24,46]. *Ubuntu* philosophical perspectives bolsters our understanding of the importance of supportive communities in the development of resilience, health and wellbeing in Afrodiasporic communities. The role of social support derived from families [47], communities [8], and community organisations [7], is well recognised in research as crucial in facilitating a healthy resettlement among migrants [7,9,10]. Collectivist and family-oriented values were also demonstrated through the reasons for migration, which was motivated not by personal gain, but to create a better future for their children, their communities and future generations.

It is also worth noting that, participants were both ready to integrate and align with the host community's norms, as well as continue to maintain their African identity and cultural perspectives. These dichotomous perspectives correspond with the *Sancofa* principles where, whilst these participants looked forward to a bright future in Australia, they also needed to nurture their African heritage in Australia, thus exemplifying the notion that *'it is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten'* [14]. Through these noted attributes of collectivism, flexibility and positivity, it is plausible to acknowledge that many skilled African migrants were able to develop a thoughtful appreciation of the positive aspects of both African *and* Australia cultures, and selectively and intentionally drew upon these resources in order to support their aspirations for a successful resettlement in Australia.

There was also significant trust placed by many participants into Australian colleagues and friends and the belief that in general, Australian people were 'good'. This comfort was drawn from seeing people's intrinsic goodness and trusting this collective 'goodness' would cushion them from any extreme negative experiences. For some participants, work colleagues extended positive relationships. This familiarity, trust and synergy in the workplace encouraged a sense of belonging and helped minimise the complexities of social issues of isolation [45]. Additionally, connections both within specific ethnic communities and within the broader Australian community offered practical and emotional support in building a new life. This supports the consensus in the literature on the importance of strong social ties and social capital in supporting quality health and wellbeing outcomes [48–51].

Importantly, it is necessary to re-emphasise participants' pride in their decision to resettle in Australia, their strong professional identity and their admirable qualities. Some participants described in detail their achievements at work, their contributions to the Australian economy, their investment successes and their creation of employment and other opportunities for the wider Australian community. International literature on skilled migration has in the past focused on macro contextual issues such as brain drain, and migrants' remittances [52], but this has left a knowledge gap about skilled migrants' self-initiated and self-identified contributions to the *host* environment. We argue that there are benefits (socioeconomic, cultural and ecological) of successful resettlement for both new arrivals and receiving communities as demonstrated in the current study. As such, supporting migrant communities, including highly skilled new migrants, to resettle successfully is important for Australia to implement. This support is the most effective and empowering tool when it is embedded in social and political practices to help new migrants mitigate migration resettlement obstacles [51,52], including challenges in employment, [2] and inclusion [40], so as to improve their health and wellbeing [7], in their new country.
