Bior Aguer (Part 2)

Speaker 1
This is a Vision Australia Radio podcast.

Speaker 2
On Vision Australia Radio, welcome to our conversations on the work and experiences of emerging writers. I'm Kate Cooper and our guest today is Bior Aguer, a spoken word and published poet, freelance journalist, podcast producer and performing artist, public speaker and advocate. Bior has also been involved in a range of community projects and activities, has toured around Australia as a performance artist and poet, and is about to launch the third volume of his poetry trilogy, which began with Journal of a Refugee and Divinity.

We spoke last week about some of the experiences that have inspired Biora's poetry, including the story of his family and childhood in South Sudan, and coming to Australia as a child refugee and discovering poetry. I'm delighted to continue our conversation this week. Bior, welcome to the program.

Speaker 3
Thank you so much. Happy to be here.

Speaker 2
And we finished last week by talking about the third volume of your poetry that's going to be coming out very shortly. The first volume, as I mentioned, is Journal of a Refugee in Divinity. And the third volume is called Revelations. And all of these tell about your journey of discovery, not only of yourself as a poet, but of yourself as a young man who came here at the age of five as an unaccompanied minor. You've lived apart from your family all this time. You've supported yourself. And now you're working to bring your family here to Australia.

Speaker 3
That's it. Well, yes. My body of work is really a representation of who I am and who I want to be. That's to say that, yes, I've had adversity, I've had challenges, but we all have had adversity and challenges. So I'm looking to redefine, again, the refugee identity and the refugee story of one of empowerment because I grew up without that mentorship and we all have had conversations, whether it's to do around refugees and migrants integrating into Australian culture and also the difficulties they face, whether it's racism, discrimination, as of such.

Speaker 3
So for me, it's like I do not want to be defined by my environment. I want to redefine my environment. And that made me always open -minded to challenges and to be a critical thinker. So I really had to be a critical thinker from day one in order to achieve the impossible. And there's a lot of courage and faith that you need in order to achieve all that you can. So for me, it started with understanding, having that adult conversation with yourself early, that you want more for yourself. And from there, the journey begins.

Speaker 2
And as we've said, your poems are created out of your personal experiences, but you also touch on universal questions. In one of your poems, you describe yourself as a student of compassion and downfalls. Now, compassion to me is one of the most beautiful words in the English language. Would you tell us about what that word compassion means to you?

Speaker 3
Yeah, well, that notation itself is referring to a time in my life where I had realised that number one, I'm separated from family. Number two, I have a lot of economical issues provided for myself as an individual. I don't have the upper hand, number one, and I'm facing depression, anxiety, and I don't know who I am as such and where I'm going. So that also gave me humility, you know, because I have so much that is going on in my life, good or bad, but then there's millions of others who have a similar story to me as well.

So it gave me humility and it taught me compassion at the same time. So making compassion the center of your persona is what I'm referring to. And to also redefine to yourself what compassion means. Universal as also individually.

Speaker 2
Thank you. That's beautifully said. Would you read to us another of your poems? Yes, I would love to.

05:03

Speaker 3
This one is me speaking a little bit more into my reflections on love. This is a letter to the one who came and nurtured my heart to full health....

Love, my testimony. My heart is a beacon for good in life dark times, indicating the way out. Comprehending love is crazy, it's complicated, it baffles me. I encountered love once. We met at the mall. Her sight and presence, radiant beauty, left me frozen in disbelief.

Speaker 2
Beautiful love poem. I spoke with another poet on a previous episode of this program about poetry as both a form of truth telling and a bridge between languages and cultures. We spoke last week about how you were born into a dinka -speaking community and then learned English as you came to Australia. So would you comment on how important these two dimensions of poetry writing are to you, the truth telling and also the bridge building?

Speaker 3
Well, this is a very important aspect that I've learned in my time so far, doing poetry and advocacy work. Now the bridge between my Dinka community and the overall community is very important because number one for me, I felt the need to bring representation from the Dinka side to the wider Australian community and the world.
And that is to say that it's a unifying voice of hope and courage and understanding the identity of the Dinka people. Now that would only come and bridge itself when there is a level of truth telling or sharing of stories. So that's where my work began with the stories, to open bridges of conversation that allow us to connect the two identities together, the Dinka and the Australian communities.

And I did that in a capacity of leadership, being a youth leader. I've done some small workshops in poetry, allowing individuals to tell their truths through poetry and literature, as well as being involved in community engagement work, whether it's allowing individuals exposure to career expos or advice or free advice on career and job prospects, all the little tangible things, connecting individuals with businesses or contacts to help them in whichever, whether it's employment, for example, or it couldn't be anything like young people come to me and speak about their challenges with identifying as an Australian, for example, they might feel excluded. So I would teach them how to build confidence to be able to get out in the public.

Speaker 2
And we talked before about how you trained to do public speaking and you also are an advocate as well. So you balance that support for young people with teaching them to be advocates for themselves. And how did you become inspired to be an advocate for others?

Speaker 3
For me, I think it comes from feeling like I have never had my voice heard. You know, it came from not, not only all the adversity I've faced, but during that adversity, I never spoke about my adversity until recently. I never talked about my experiences and my experiences people could just suppose with their current situation and what limitations are holding them back from their dream. And I can only just hope that they draw inspiration from my experiences. That anything really is possible if you try.

Speaker 2
Do you find that other young people will say to you that they haven't talked to others about their experiences, that they keep those within?

Speaker 3
100%. I get a lot of feedback such as you are helping tell our story. I've heard that so many times and for me it's like yeah this is the right thing to do then. This is the right thing to do.

Speaker 2
And you're involved very widely in community work. You just describe for us your work with young people. But you're also involved more broadly in community activities, aren't you?

Speaker 3
Yes, yes I am. I have been involved with a number of councils within Adelaide. I had an author talk for Refugee Week with Tucci Gully Council, with the Onko Paringa Council as well, at the Young Changemakers Summit, as well as doing some work with the Global Shapers, which is an initiative from the World Economic Forum where we are the young voices for young people, whether it's private or public. So for example, with the Global Shapers, we have a podcast project that I'm involved in and that podcast project, we just had one on renewable waste and we also had another program which is known as Self-Start.

So here is collecting young voices to contribute within conversations in public and private, which is very, very rewarding because with that, I'm able to directly engage with the wider community.

Speaker 2
And you've also been involved in the Speak Your Language, the Multicultural Community Council's podcast.

Speaker 3
Hmm. Yep. I was also exposed to the works with Speak My Language with Multicultural Council SA, which was another well -rounded experience for myself, diversifying the voices of those living with disability through radio podcasts.

Speaker 2
Fantastic, and you have an interest in journalism as well.

11:35

Speaker 3
Yes, I have an interest in journalism and it's something that I've been doing as a freelance in recent years. And my goal with that is yet again advocate, educate and inspire through journalism rather than the published form.

Speaker 2
On Vision Australia Radio, you're listening to our conversation program, Emerging Writers. Our guest today is Bior Aguer, a spoken word and published poet, freelance journalist, podcast producer and performing artist, public speaker, advocate and community volunteer. Bior, could I ask you to read again some more of your poetry for us?

Speaker 3
Yes, I'd love to. Now this is when I'm diving into my thoughts a bit more...

In times of reflection, passion dims, calling for transformation into a new me, a person with a tale of detaching chains, transitioning from my ancestral roots. Fear is the four letter word of false evidence appearing real. A gentle giant I am at war with myself, entertaining people when this odd soul will outgrow simulating on pleasing people. I pursue chains of peace with myself. This staircase to one's self, in an age of technology, I am clinging to an ideal of humane connection. Where we can have a genuine conversation on our greatest disease.

Like anything in life, the will to win, desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential are the keys to unlocking the doors of personal excellence. People will never see, acknowledge or accept you for who you are. You must meet the expectations of perfection or likeability. Only the few who accept you uniquely are values for growth.

Speaker 2
And you talk about growth a lot in your work. So you see that as a process that continues on. We don't arrive somewhere and say, right, that's it. I've grown. We might stop growing in height, but it's about growing as a person. And that's really important to you as well.

Speaker 3
It is, it is. I was able to grow from my challenges, for example. And that comes from accepting your losses and accepting your wins. Not getting into a lot of the issues that I've faced, but I had to persevere and bring a can do attitude to every moment of my life. And it continues from today. Now, I reflect back on how I was as an individual and I can say that I'm moving into the right direction because I'm always redefining my values and my goals as an individual.

Whether that is, for example, let's say I'm goal setting. I've got to set a goal where there's this body of work that I want to go out there and I want it to bring this perspective of encouragement. For example, or I want it to fill this knowledge gap. Those goals will have small goals and then they'll have big goals. But in order to achieve the big goals, you've got to execute the small goals before focusing on the big goals. So that's what I have learned so far and enjoy in the process of your big dream.

15:35

Speaker 2
And you spoke previously about working smarter rather than burning yourself out and you've been very mindful of the importance of doing as much as you do with your work, with your poetry writing, with your community commitments, but also striking those balances in life that enable us to do what we really want to do.

Speaker 3
That's right. That's right. You've always got to come back to balance. You've always going to come back to balance. Um, I may be new in this venture, but if I want to succeed in the venture, I really have to work smart. It's more about the output than the input. So for me, yeah, it's always just redefining exactly where you want to go and how you can better. It's all about being better every single step of the way.

Speaker 2
So looking ahead, you've got the next volume of your poetry coming out quite soon.

Speaker 3
Hmm yep, quite soon. At the moment it's in this final stage of editing, final review. And this one I've done something different. I've got illustrations to it bringing this amplifying the story here. Now Revelation is similar to Divinity. Revelation really speaks about the overcoming of your downfalls and accepting your truths. It's very faith -based. It's got a lot of anecdotes from the Bible and applying some of those anecdotes with my experiences in life as well.

Speaker 2
And you said to us before that you have edited your own work. You also give it to other people for feedback before you publish.

Speaker 3
Yeah, that's correct. So what I'll do is I will reaffirm some of my thoughts and journals. Let's say it's a topic around social issues. I would get like a professor in social science, for example, to have a read of that and validate her research with my experience, for example. And then I'll feel confident in that and then I'll move forward because I'm also someone who's self -discovering himself and my refugee story, a lot of other refugees may resemble with it. So I want to understand the refugee story as well.

Speaker 2
There's another question that I have asked people on this program and that's about where and when they write. Some people have a special place and a special time, other people write anywhere and everywhere. When and where do you write?

Speaker 3
For me, it's when inspiration strikes. When inspiration strikes, I'll get a notepad or use my phone notes and I'll jot those down as a journal. And what I have done is I've self-taught myself to create a book through a collection of journals. So let's say I've got random notes or poems. I have a method where I can separate the poems into topics and then I can create a body of poems which align with each other from there. And then I have an editing process where I can redefine those poems into a lineage of stories from there.

Speaker 2
And as you said earlier, you're hoping that your stories will inspire others to share their stories.

Speaker 3
That's right. That's right. It isn't so much about what you can achieve, but the fruits are found within the journey. You know, within the journey, you get to learn life -changing skills like discipline, accountability, and you get to learn from others as well that you come across as well. And you get to see the world in a different light. You get to be a contributor to social issues as well.

20:00

Speaker 2
That's a beautiful place to bring our conversation to a close. Bior, thank you so much for telling us your story and reading us your poems. For listeners who want to follow up, find out more and find out when your next volume Revelations is coming out, your website.

Speaker 3
Yep, yep, so my website there, www .beardepoet .com. So from that website, you'll be able to have a look at some of my work as well as purchase the two books as well and Revelation will be available on that platform alongside other third parties like Amazon and so forth.

Speaker 2
Thank you so much. Our guest on Emerging Writers today was Bior Aguer, a spoken word and published poet, freelance journalist, podcast producer and performing artist, and community volunteer. And just to recap, Bior's books, Journal of a Refugee and Divinity, a collection of poems written when he was fresh out of high school. As Bior explains in the books, and as we've heard in our conversations, these poems highlight his experiences and lessons learnt during his long transition from refugee to Australian.

In the poems, Bior shares his emotions and thought patterns along his journey and how they shape him today. He shows how the will of perseverance and faith can help even in the darkest of times, and seeks through the poems to encourage individuals to write their own story and walk their enlightenment amidst the adversities of life.

For more details, that website again, BiorreThePoet .com and this program can be heard at the same time each week on Vision Australia Radio, VA Radio Digital, online at varadio.org and also on Vision Australia Radio Podcasts, where you can catch up on earlier episodes.

Speaker 1
Thanks for listening to this Vision Australia Radio podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. Visit varadio.org for more.

22:57

Speaker 2
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