Advertisement

Using humour to break down refugee stereotypes

ABC

ABC

Two refugees are using YouTube and humour to break down stereotypes by creating a 10-part web series called Two Refugees and a Blonde.

Actor and writer Osamah Sami and director Shahin Shafaei are both refugees who have drawn on their own experiences for the series, which also stars another refugee, Behrouz Harvasi.

Sami was born in Iran to Iraqi parents who came to Australia, along with his seven siblings, and settled in Melbourne.

• Refugees tell UN that Navy paid smugglers
• Indigenous man ‘falsely detained as refugee’
• The day David Letterman said ‘no’ to Murdoch

The eldest of his siblings, Sami was 13 when they arrived, and without being able to speak English he said it was often challenging for his family.

“The city where I grew up was the Vatican of the Muslim world, it was a country within its own country, and so I came here and then I suddenly saw women wearing jeans and not even that, there’s girls at the beach and that was freaking me out but in a good way,” he said.

“When I was in Iran I was an Iraqi, so I felt persecution in Iran as an Iraqi boy.

“I was an Arab, so I was an outsider there, so when we came to Australia we were promised that would stop – it was a new beginning a new start and that persecution would stop, but it didn’t.”

Refugee politics a ‘very dirty game’

Shafaei arrived in Australia from Iran via Indonesia in 2000, and spent nearly 22 months at the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre in Western Australia.

When he got out he began to build his life again by acting, writing and directing, even performing in a one-man show which he took around the country.

Shafaei said he thought attitudes from ordinary Australians about refugees had changed for the better, but the politics remained the same.

“The worst part of it is still witnessing the way politicians have to use this as a vote winner, which becomes a very dirty game,” he said.

“In that way the humanity is out of the door because they’re just numbers … they are not humans and that’s why we feel like we are telling the stories.

“We are putting the human face on people on numbers, and now when people get to meet those faces its very hard to ignore them.”

Rain Fuller, who co-produced and starred in the show as a radio presenter who finds herself hosting two refugees, said she hoped the show started a new conversation about the asylum seeker debate.

“Sometimes there gets this fatigue of constant bad news, but through comedy hopefully we can just bring some more life and light to it and see it from a different perspective and start the dialogue that way,” she said.

Kath and Kim show the way

For their latest venture Two Refugees and a Blonde, nothing is out of bounds, believing the best way to bridge the divide is by being able to laugh at yourself, Kath and Kim style.

“We understand that the society we are now living in are good at laughing at themselves – you look at Kath and Kim, it’s best way,” Shafaei said.

“It allows us to really dig deep and push the limits of the comedy that is hopefully going to get us into a bit of trouble, but in a good way because now feel like we are creating a bit of discussion around some of these issues.”

All 10 episodes will be shown at a special preview on June 24, where all the proceeds will go to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Each show will be available on YouTube.

Advertisement
Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter.
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.