Rhiannon Elston

Every year for the last five years, the African Nations Cup has been a highlight of Adelaide’s sporting calendar. Drawing players from the diaspora of more than 30 African countries, it has been a launching pad for top football talent, says coordinator Arsene Iribuka. “Some of our players have actually gone on to play at the international level, some now play in the A-League,” said Mr Iribuka, who is from the African Communities Council of South Australia.

Nathan Laverty used to dread his phone ringing. He was on constant alert for a call to come and pick up his now 10-year-old son Vinnie from Christie Downs Primary School in southern Adelaide. Vinnie, who is on the autism spectrum, was frequently excluded from the classroom due to behavioural incidents. “We’d go through periods where it would be great, and then there would just be a mass of blowouts, and no one could really pinpoint where or why it was happening,” Nathan told SBS News.

Once a week, 12-year-old Yar Garang heads to Adelaide’s Dinka Ethnic School to learn the language her parents speak. She was born in Australia to South Sudanese parents. At home, they speak Dinka, but she says she doesn’t know it as well as English. “We talk back [in Dinka], or I’ll just talk back in English sometimes,” she told SBS News. Yar Garang, 12, is one of about 40 students attending Dinka Ethnic School.