Thanks Sydney, now we're going home - The Daily Telegraph

Garang 'John' Kon with his friends Jok Kuol Mayom Mach and Mading Deng Lual / Pic: Tim Hunter Source: The Daily Telegraph

FOR years they have called Australia home - but deep in their hearts they longed to be with their families in the land where they were born.

Now, in a move that proves the asylum system can work, 72 per cent of a group of South Sudan refugees want to go back to where they came from.

Caught up in a vicious civil war between the Arab north and the African south of the nation, more than 20,000 Sudanese have come to Australia since the mid-1990s to escape the fighting, hardship and starvation that has killed more than two million people.

After South Sudan became the world's newest country after a referendum in July last year, many now want to return, taking with them the skills and confidence acquired in Australia to help build a nation.

A study by international policy researchers STATT surveyed more than 330 South Sudanese refugees and included in-depth interviews with many around Australia.

With conditions in their homeland improving, 238 said they were now determined to return. The study found 25 per cent wanted to return to their country permanently, 35 per cent wanted to return for more than a year and 12 per cent wanted to go home for less than a year.

STATT research analyst Robert Onus said he was surprised by the findings - not because so many Sudanese wanted to go home, but the motivation behind their desire to return: "My expectation was that we would find a lot of people that wanted to return because they were motivated by discrimination here and lack of opportunity.

"But it's more that they have an enthusiasm to contribute to their own country's development and to spend time with family over there."

Sudanese refugee "John" Garang Kon, 25, said he was returning to his birthplace in a few weeks to be with his family, who he hasn't seen in 20 years.

"I always found it difficult to settle in here, but I'm very grateful," he said.

"I did school here and studies but it's actually difficult to get a job. I need to go home now and see my mum and dad."

Mr Onus said the people interviewed were quite diverse, varying in age, sex and background: "It was definitely apparent that people wanted to go back to help out and they felt an affinity with their own people and they felt their assistance and skills they learnt here in Australia were required over there.

"A lot of people have been able to gain skills in terms of public governance and are looking at making a positive contribution to their homeland.

"(South) Sudan is a new country. There's a new sense of hope. It's a different dynamic to a lot of refugee communities around Australia."