text: At this point Reason said ‘I gave up, I had literally applied for all advertised roles and added myself to database pools, dropped into schools to personally deliver my resume, everything. I didn’t know what else to do. I had tried it all. I gave up’.
  Like many immigrants, he had to change his strategy to enter the Australian workforce. Although disappointed he quickly adapted and developed a new career path in fundraising. To date, Reason has fundraised in excess of $3 million and he is one of the most well-known and respected fundraisers in N.S.W.
  When prompted further about his cultural expectations and experiences in Australia. He replies simply “I did not really expect a replica of Africa here, but there were a few surprises, some of them pleasant, and some not so pleasant. Some were pretty petty and funny, like being asked if ‘you mingle with wild animals in Africa’.”
  However, his frustrations with the long list of insults and ‘nicknames’ Africans and people of colour hear, such as Monkey, Negro and Nigger are obvious. As an educated man he has learnt to turn the other cheek but some experiences have left him shaken.
  During his early days as a Face-to-Face Fundraiser for the United Nations Refugee (UNHCR) agency in Australia he “had a Caucasian man approach me on the streets in an aggressive manner ordering me to ‘go back to Africa’.”
  On other occasions, people approached the fundraising booth to argue, ask provocative questions and make statements such as ‘Is this still about Africa?’ or ‘We have given you so much money and you still don’t know how to govern yourselves.’
  “I guess for some we are still a bit of a novelty. People don’t look twice at you in the United Kingdom or the United States but here we still stand out. Maybe that’s why we still get the wild animal comments.”
  Reason states that despite the ignorance of a few like the man who abused him on the street, he ‘did not for a moment take his sentiments as representative of the wider opinion of mainstream Australia’.
  When asked if he changed his name for job applications and to gain interviews, Reason says “It is the literal translation of my birth name. It does gain extra attention and jokes – like people asking if it is my ‘rappers name. My name is not common here, it is the name given to me from my parents – so I will always use it. I have not had an experience where someone tried to give me a nickname or an anglicised name. That would be a bit patronising in my opinion.”
  When asked if he thinks race can hinder employment opportunities in Australia and if racial discrimination is why many immigrants aren’t working in their area of expertise, Reason replies: