By Trey Mewes, Austin Daily Herald

AUSTIN — The Southern Sudanese of Mower County will partner with other groups to pursue a community center to address concerns for all area refugees.

That was the plan to come out of a public meeting Saturday between Sudanese volunteers. Though only about a dozen or so residents came to Austin’s city council chambers, volunteers decided to band together after community leaders discussed their own efforts to get a community center off the ground.

“We need to come together to address the needs of all refugees,” said Ojoye Akane, the executive director for the African Asian Refugee Services Agency. “Not just one or two groups, but all groups. I believe that is the best way to solve our issues.”

Akane and other Sudanese advocates previously tried to build interest for a Sudanese center, but they found the community wasn’t interested at the time. That’s when they partnered with several advocates from the Karen, Karenni and other Asian refugees who came to Austin in the past few years to form the AARSA.

Chief Brown Bol, who had spearheaded efforts to get a Sudanese center over the past few months, said he was pleased with the progress made.

“I do not care how it gets done,” he said. “So long as my people are helped, that’s great.”

Yet there’s plenty of work to do before a public campaign for a center can move forward. One resident pointed out there were few Sudanese residents at the meeting and said Sudanese parents needed to take charge of their own efforts to assimilate into local life.

Bol and other advocates acknowledged how difficult it can be to get Sudanese and other refugees to come together, but they stressed that was why a community center is important to have.

Many refugees come from war-torn places with far different cultures than the U.S. For example, hundreds of Sudanese have come to the area to escape a civil war between North and South Sudan which started in 1983 and only ended in 2011 when South Sudan declared itself a separate country. Yet South Sudan is mired in another round of civil strife and violence after its president dissolved his cabinet last year.

Bol said some Sudanese weren’t used to the U.S. way of life as many spent years inside refugee camps, where they were given supplies and had no job opportunities. In addition, Sudanese parents often saw little of their children once they became school age, as teachers in Sudan tend to take responsibility for students once they hit school age.

Those cultural differences, among others, have made things difficult for Sudanese refugees to adapt in Austin. Bol and others started the most recent campaign for a Sudanese center after they grew tired of the education, parenting, law enforcement and work issues their neighbors struggle with.

The Karen face similar issues, as they and other Christians faced religious persecution in Myanmar. Soe Myat, a Karen advocate, said the refugee center would help address overall refugee issues.

“It will help with all our problems,” he said.

Mayor Tom Stiehm said he supported the groups coming together to help one another.

“Refugees are different in that they can’t go back,” he said.

Stiehm said the groups would have far more success banding together to rent a space in town and get funding for a center. Volunteers said a center is needed so refugees could teach English to one another, among other skills, with little confusion as opposed to learning from people who don’t connect with the refugees.

Bol, Akane, Myat and other volunteers are expected to meet with other refugees to get more support before approaching community leaders and organizations once more.

“This is just the first step for them,” Stiehm said.