The young people whose words feature here are no different to other young people.They nurture dreams, desires, aspirations. Despite the often overwhelming odds against them, most continue to hold out hope for a better future. Whether their lives can be repaired and their dreams realised depends, not only on them, but our insistence on a society that lives up to its promises.

tu, 22 year-old vietnamese-australian
what's the future?
i have to face with this country
i don't have a chance no more to go back my country
I'm used to here, i can't change again
can't start again, another country, another life
it's not about the future
but about who you know and who know you
i can't go back to the different world
i don't know nothing there
i don't know no-one there

tram, 19 year-old vietnamese-australian
before
i used to think i didn't have a future
but now that i have had more opportunities
and a lot of support
i think i can achieve anything i want

but to tell you the truth,
i am sad about leaving my past behind
it gets really hard
because the comfort of the past
is sometimes all i've got

but i'm setting a future for myself
right now i want to get an education
and be able to look after my baby son
and give support to my family

i'd like to get a degree
so that what i have to say will be heard
and listened to by important people
who can't say that i haven't been there and done that
or that i'm not educated

my main aim is to help my friends and my community
maybe not straight away but some day
at least now i can see that day  [top]

melissa, 19 year-old vietnamese-australia
my dream is to build a house for my grandparent
a real house
made of concrete
most of the house in our village are grass house
all the walls and the roof are made out of grass
now my grandparent are very old
and might die soon
a concrete house
will make their face
go up in the community

mickey, 24 year-old serbian-australian
i've done a lot of bad things in my life
a lot of bad things
i've been in jail twice
i don't want to spend the rest of my life out here
i want to be here but not be out here
you know what i mean

maybe there's a way out
there's a girl, a young girl
she's 18, she's serbian, she's decent
she's really nice
if i can see a future with her
i'll snap out of it
get a job
settle down
have a family

tien,19 year-old vietnamese-australian
if i could have a chance
to go back to vietnam
i leave that country when i was 15
i want to go back there
and look at my background

i remember,
remember the past when i was young
and i look at the old people living there happy before,
like my grandmother, grandfather

i want to go vietnam to make me more healthy
to my natural country
my own country
so i get good feeling for me
when i come back here
i have my power to help me
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