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Hi, my name is JB. I am an AUSCO trainer in Nepal.
My name is Neera Chaulagi and I am also an AUSCO trainer in Nepal.
And we are here in cultural orientation centre in Damak, Nepal.
Let's get into the class.
AUSCO is a worldwide program that takes place in many countries.
Once grants are made by an Australian embassy, the names then go to the International
Organization for Migration where we get people ready for their trip to Australia.
Part of that preparation is the AUSCO course.
Here in Nepal, courses are taught by Nepali trainers because Bhutanese themselves are
ethnic Nepali so they have a common culture and speak a common language.
We have two trainers here, both of them have been to Australia on numerous occasions,
they've studied the refugees that have gone before and seen their experiences there.
So they are well qualified people on both sides, the Australian side and the Bhutanese.
The AUSCO course is five days long.
In that five days we cover everything from how to shake hands in the Australian way, how
to use a western toilet, to issues with family violence
and how to answer interview questions.
I think this is very important for the refugees to re-start their new lives in
Australia because they have very unrealistic expectations before they travel to
Australia, so we make them prepare for their new life, managing real expectations.
So this is very important.
Refugees are changing their lives.
We call them getting a new birth, so, for them, AUSCO class is really important because
they are not used to modern equipment and even the life in a developed country they have
been living in a refugee camp for 20 years.
Before that they were living in an undeveloped country.
So for them going to a challenging place, it's really important.
Through the AUSCO course they gain three things: they gain knowledge about things they
don't know about, they get skills and they get
to explore attitudes about things like
family violence, the changes in family roles and so forth that they may not have considered.
The AUSCO class is not like a traditional class, we have our different methods and
teaching principals.
We try and tell them "that you are your first resource, take charge of your own
learning." We deliver the AUSCO learning in a kind of interactive way - active learning.
When you get to go to Australia and when you see them, like the participants a few
months back who was struggling in your class who was really nervous.
And today when you go, they ask you "Do you want to take a ride in my car?" or they just
want to show their new house.
So that's really satisfying for me.
AUSCO training is really overwhelming for me because I'm not only teaching them, but I
also get to learn so many things from them as well.
And I have met so many refugees in Australia,
we get emails and phone calls from there
and they really appreciate our work so it's really a very, very happy setting for us.