Settling in Australia

The authors of this chapter both have extensive experience of working with refugees in Australia. Venkat Pulla has worked with over four hundred families from the former Yugoslavia and several Kurdish, Afghan, Iraqi, and Iranian refugees. Sarjoh Bah is a refugee himself and has pursued studies in social work. Our research here is the outcome of “intensive interviews” that allowed us to explore in depth the experiences of the Lhotsampa refugees in order to gain a greater perspective of the situation. As interviewers, we were able to return to earlier points, probe further into relevant statements, or explore particular topics in detail, while “validating the participant’s humanity, perspective or action” (Charmaz, 2006, p. 26). True to the traditions of grounded theory, and prior to embarking on the research, we put potential questions to each other before raising them with our respondents.