Rhyming the wrongs ... Fablice and G-Storm of hip-hop act the Flybz at Melbourne's Xavier College. The pair are refugees from Burundi who are now making their name as rap artists. Photo: Matthew Bayard
The usually boisterous year 7 class at Xavier College is dead silent. Indeed, the boys at one of Melbourne's most reputable private schools sit transfixed by every word uttered by their guest speakers, Fablice and G-Storm, of the hip-hop act the Flybz.
''When I was 11, the soldiers came to my school and one of them asked all the tall boys in my class to stand up,'' Fablice tells the hushed crowd.
''I was one of those tall boys and they gave me a gun and some bullets and told me to march towards the sound of the guns and to kill anyone I met on the way.
''Luckily for me, when we got to the front I was chosen to go and buy some food and I got in a taxi and I paid for him to take me to the Tanzanian border. Even though I was very young, I convinced the taxi driver I was a good beggar and I had the money at home. I never shot or killed anyone.''
When G-Storm tells the Xavier boys how much he admires their uniforms, they look differently at their everyday get-up.
''When I was a boy, all I ever wanted was a school tie and jacket. We had nothing like that. You guys are so lucky,'' he says. ''School was not so easy for me. We had to walk 10 kilometres to get there and then 10 kilometres back every single day and I was always, always hungry.''
The Flybz were at Xavier for the Catholic private school's social justice week, taking part in a program called the Living Library, initiated by the teacher Richard Bryant.
The Living Library idea comes from Northern Ireland, where it was conceived to foster relationships and understanding between Catholics and Protestants.
''We still have a lack of understanding about refugees and where they have come from,'' Bryant says. ''Sometimes as a result of this lack of understanding, we pass judgment on those who we don't know, resulting in an unwelcoming and false understanding of who they really are.
''It is always difficult to try and gain an understanding about social justice when you teach it from a distance - to have Fablice and G-Storm come to our classes and tell their story firsthand to an audience of a similar age was just so powerful.''
That the duo are hip-hop artists, too, no doubt also helps establish a bond. By week's end, Fablice has coaxed the young Xavier students into performing their own raps and has them hip-hopping around the classroom.
From a Tanzanian refugee camp to the Sydney Opera House, it has indeed been an inspirational journey for the Flybz. Fablice, 19, and his nephew, G-Storm, 16, were recently voted Australia's No.1 African-Australian hip-hop act at a competition in Adelaide. The performers have become firm favourites of Multicultural Arts Victoria, which saw their entertainment and educational talents early and has recently been staging events featuring the duo all over Victoria.
Former child soldier Fablice was orphaned as an eight-year-old when his mother, who belonged to the Hutu people, and his father, a Tutsi, were killed as part of the devastating civil war in the former German colony of Burundi.
Fablice says: ''When my mum and dad died, I lived like a wild boy on the streets, taking drugs and drinking. My life was very hard. I was on my own and things were very bad.''
After escaping the military, Fablice fled to a bordering Tanzanian refugee camp in 2003 to reunite with his eldest sister, also a former child soldier who had escaped the civil war, where she was living with her then baby, and eight-year-old son G-Storm.
The boys began experimenting with hip-hop music as a means to express themselves in the war-torn environment. ''I can remember a huge group of people crowding around an old television watching the movie by American rapper 50 Cent. That was our only exposure to music,'' G-Storm says.
''The kids in the refugee camp loved hip-hop because it was an escape for us. Time to forget how bad conditions were.''
''There was no food, no water, sometimes bullets were fired into our hut,'' Fablice says. ''I thought being a child soldier was hard but the camp was much worse. One bucket to use for drinking and cleaning. Even to get water we had to walk miles.''
With deteriorating living conditions at their holding camp and unable to return to their homeland, Fablice, his sister, her baby and G-Storm were accepted as refugees to Australia in 2007. Fablice laughs when telling the story about his journey to his new home. ''I had never seen a plane up close. In fact, the planes flying overhead scared the life out of me and I thought they were giant birds,'' he says.
They say they were ''amazed'' at the abundance of food and opportunities once they got here.
''We only ever ate meat on Christmas Day but in Australia you can have it all the time,'' G-Storm says.
''I was so hungry in the refugee camp I used to follow the dogs around and when they had finished their bones I would put them in the fire and eat them myself. There are so many new foods I have discovered in Australia. I just love lasagne.''
I first met the pair at the Artful Dodgers Studios in Collingwood, run by Jesuit Social Services, which offers young people with complex needs the chance to work in a music and art studio.
I work there as a project officer and what immediately struck me about the two boys was their willingness to work ''any place, any time, anywhere''.
After a lifetime in rock'n'roll, playing with bands including Painters and Dockers and Dili All Stars, I love the fact that they are always on time, extremely polite, modest and, above all, totally committed to their music and not interested in drinking or taking drugs.
In fact, the two boys have made me fall in love with Australia again. They say things like, ''Hey Paulie, you seen that show Q&A? Did you know you can make fun of a politician in Australia to their actual face, and they don't take your family away in the middle of the night?''
Or, ''Paulie, we love RAP. Respect for Aboriginal People.''
One day Fablice said to me: ''Hey Paulie, you know how children in Australia love lions at the zoo? Well, we hate them 'cause they used to chase us and try and eat us.''
The attitude of many young Australians just amazes them.
''Why do the young people here complain? This place is paradise,'' G-Storm says.
These two young men are dedicated to sharing their experiences through music and, in the past 18 months, have been building a reputation for energetic and passionate performances.
Their music reflects their belief in embracing life, while taking a stand on discrimination and promoting their political messages and experience as young refugees.
''We believe we must share our stories of loss, hope, war and love to demonstrate that we are all on this planet together and that there are better ways of living than what we experienced firsthand in our homeland,'' Fablice says.
G-Storm adds: ''All we want to do is perform and play our music for people. We don't copy American gangster lyrics but stick to our own topics and our own stories. Most American rappers are just not real. We are!''
He said the Flybz have now performed at events and venues as varied as Melbourne's Fringe Festival, youth prisons, African homework clubs, Xavier College, indigenous cultural celebrations and Moomba. Local artists they have performed live or recorded with include Paul Kelly, Xavier Rudd, Angie Hart, Ella and Jesse Hooper, Blue King Brown, Tjimba and The Yung Warriors, Coloured Stone, Diafrix, Killer Queens and Black Roots.
The pair plan to visit Africa in December and January for a series of homeland gigs, where they will perform in English and the local lingo: the boys also speak Swahili, Kirundi, Kinyarwanda and French.
But first, they are looking forward to taking the music from Just Passing Through - their debut album, launched on Thursday - to people all around Australia.
''We are very excited about releasing our debut album soon and really want to take our music to more people all around Australia,'' Fablice says. ''In this country nothing is beyond us.''
Just Passing Through was made with the support of Multicultural Arts Victoria and is available through fablicemusic@hotmail.com.
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