Solving Cultural Isolation

Recently, I was involved in supporting, and luckily being a part of the ‘Multicultural Networking Event’ organised by the Marion Youth Collective Committee, and directed by Jessica Williams, founder of local networking business ‘Small World Networking’.

This event, a three hour long session at Casurina Marion, a bistro offering a wide range of Asian meals, offered an incredible insight into what is quite a scary world for many international students, and people from different cultures. 

In South Australia, data from the Department of Education shows over 40,000 international students study here, a ‘change of 30% compared to the same period last year.’ For many, this is a testament to our success as a place to live, study, and work. Yet paradoxically, this event exposed a great issue that affects an incredible amount of these students. 

Many people I met at the event spoke similarly. 

“I suffer [from] problems of homesickness.” 

“I just want to be a part of a diverse group of people, because I am away from my own country, and I just want to feel like I am home.”

One of the guests, who comes from a strictly traditionalist country, spoke that despite finding Australia a sanctuary, they find it impossible to fit in and make friends. 

Social isolation, or homesickness, as stated by many of the guests, affects every moment of their day. From waking up in the morning, to getting ready for work/school, and nighttime.

One of Jessica’s inspirations for the event, X, stated;

“I guess a lot of international students are really homesick. I did video call every morning, it made me even more homesick.” 

“I didn't get used to the culture and language at Uni, and didn’t make a lot of friends.”

The data backs up the claims in the event. In 2007, a study was commissioned for the Journal of Studies in International Education ‘Loneliness and International Students: An Australian Study.’ It conducted interviews with over 200 students, and its results remain confronting. 

In the study, it found ‘two thirds of the group had experienced problems of loneliness and/or isolation, especially in the early months.’ Students as a result were left out of many crucial activities, events, and university life, and often suffered mental health problems as a result. Another study, this time longitudinal covering the period between 2001 to 2021, by the University of Melbourne (HILDA), found loneliness to be a dominant issue within the Australian community as large. ‘The frequency of social contact has been declining across all age groups in Australia for decades, with data from the HILDA survey showing a relative decline of 11% overall from 2001 to 2020.’

Despite this dominant issue, it was this event that made me realise their hope. What if there’s a solution right in front of us? One of the noticeable observations made during the event, was that many people who entered, by themselves, left with a group of people, even if it was to casually talk as they found their own ways home. Events such as these, that allow a group of people to come together, to talk unafraid, in locations that are diverse and safe, appeared to achieve far more than originally thought. 

I spoke with Jessica Williams to garner her insight into how solutions could be proposed to mitigate this issue. 

“Young migrants are such a catalyst for change. They bring with them unique skills and aspirations that need to be fostered by our community, this cannot be done unless they are really made to feel at home.”

Currently, the South Australia Government offers no clear directive on how to manage loneliness within the community. Events such as the ‘Multicultural Networking Dinner’ are rare, and are usually managed by councils once in a blue moon. The closest I could find to a successful program to combating loneliness was Community Connections, a DHS initiative that concluded in July this year. 

For the time being, locally run programmes such as these are the only form of relief we have for people, particularly multicultural, in finding connection. 

It will require government action, and collaboration with community groups, events, and associations to organise clear decisive programmes that fulfil the need of loneliness within the community.