Migrant and Refugee Settlement Services (MARSS) Australia helps migrants, refugees, humanitarian entrants, and asylum seekers to resettle and to build a new life in this country. It helps them find housing; access health care; and enrol in education and training. It also provides casework, advocacy, and referrals; language translation and interpretation; and youth programs.

Sonia Di Mezza, the newly appointed interim CEO of MARSS, says her passion for the job comes from her own experience of cultural and linguistic diversity, as the daughter of migrants and working for human rights overseas.

“It’s really important that all our people from refugee and migrant communities are able to enjoy and exercise their human rights, and feel a sense of belonging in Australia,” Ms Di Mezza said.

The human rights lawyer has been in the position for three weeks, succeeding previous CEO Dewani Bakkum. Her position lasts until the end of June 2024.

Over the next seven months, Ms Di Mezza plans to grow the organisation to provide even greater support to the multicultural communities of the ACT region; to work with the organisation’s “skilled and talented” staff to support the human rights of the refugee and multicultural communities; to ensure MARSS has the funding it needs; to provide cross-cultural competency; and to bring a human-rights focused leadership to the role.

“People from refugee backgrounds often experience trauma in their country of origin or in their refugee journey,” Ms Di Mezza said.

“That can really be compounded with challenges that they might face coming to a new country where they have to learn a new language, or they have to learn about a different culture, or learn how to drive, or learn English, or find a job. So those are some really big challenges to overcome. MARSS plays a really important role in helping them to feel a sense of belonging.

“For migrants, it can be similar, too. They might not have had the traumatic context within their country of origin, but the challenges still present, and they relate to being able to learn English, get a new job, have your qualifications recognised.

“You might be a professional in your country of origin, and those qualifications are not recognised in Australia, and that’s really challenging, so you might have to take on a job that is very different from what you would do in your country of origin.

“Making friends, feeling a sense of belonging once again, being able to understand the culture around you – these are really big challenges that all of us face when we go travelling. So, living in a country permanently and overcoming those challenges can take a lot of effort. And that’s where MARSS can help assist people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to overcome that.”

Ms Di Mezza herself understands the migrant experience: she was born in Australia to Italians, who came here in the 1950s.

“When you’re growing up in Australia, and your parents come from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, as a young person, you learn to navigate two cultures,” she said. “And those cultures can be really different. So, there’s the culture that you live at home or with your community, and there’s the culture that you learn in school.

“And what you don’t realise is that as you’re growing up and navigating it – and it comes with both really positive aspects, and it also comes with challenges – you are developing strong cross-cultural competency skills, and being able to understand the person in front of you, the diversity of their culture, and being able to relate and connect with that.

“I brought those cross-cultural competency skills to every single role. My passion comes from that – it’s something I can relate to.”

Before joining MARSS, Ms Di Mezza worked for three years as CEO of Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services in Bendigo, Victoria. In Canberra, she was deputy chair of the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council of Multicultural Affairs; CEO of the Domestic Violence Crisis Service in the ACT; and deputy/acting CEO of the ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service. She also was a refugee lawyer working in immigration detention centres throughout Australia.

Overseas, Ms Di Mezza set up human rights projects in Sudanese camps for internally displaced people, and in Pakistan for Afghan widowed refugees and their children. She worked as a resettlement consultant for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Lebanon; and worked for a child labour rights NGO in India.

“Working in countries like Sudan and Pakistan, you really had to bring those cultural competency skills to the fore,” Ms Di Mezza said.

“You not only had to connect and collaborate and work with your staff, but you also had to work well with government agencies and work within a different legislative framework. So cross-cultural competency went beyond just getting along with people, but being able to implement a program and to do it well within a particular context.”

Australia, Ms Di Mezza observes, is a highly culturally and linguistically diverse country; around a quarter of Canberrans were born overseas.

“We are very much characterised by multiculturalism, and Australia is a wonderful place where you can learn about other cultures, and where we bring our own distinctive Australian culture to the fore and are able to share it with others. It’s a beautiful place to be.

“We have such wonderful, natural features that are just amazing and unique. And we are, I believe, a very welcoming, caring society. And it is … a great destination for people to migrate to or move to.”

What can the public do to help people from migrant and refugee backgrounds settle in Australia?

“Be aware of your unconscious biases relating to different cultures, and the beliefs that we hold ourselves that we’re not even aware of,” Ms Di Mezza says.

“Be open and understand that it can be really hard and challenging to come to a new country. It is essential to have a sense of curiosity: being open and willing to learn about another culture and appreciate it is a really wonderful thing where everyone benefits.”

If you want to help MARSS’s work, you can become a volunteer, welcoming and supporting newly arrived individuals and families from refugee, asylum seeker and migrant backgrounds; or donate to provide support to migrant and refugee communities. More information online.