Since arriving in Wodonga nearly a decade ago, the Congolese refugee has married, started a family and now studies while working at a primary school in teacher support.

“I help young refugees to integrate into the Australian system,” he said.

With Wednesday being World Refugee Day, Mr Rutebeza said he was privileged to be supported by Murray Valley Sanctuary Refugee Group during the early years.

“I always consider Sanctuary as my first family in Australia and I’m so grateful for what they’ve done,” he said.

March saw the launch of a new settlement model, the Community Refugee Sponsorship Initiative, a joint project by the Refugee Council of Australia, Amnesty International Australia, Save the Children Australia, Welcome to Australia, Rural Australians for Refugees and the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce.

Under the initiative, an individual or community group pays the settlement costs of refugees to supplement government-funded programs.

The model aims for an affordable and inclusive program that would encourage Australian communities to work closely with new arrivals to help them settle and integrate quickly. 

The coalition behind the proposal believes the Australian community has the capacity to sponsor up to 10,000 people a year, although the program would need to start on a smaller scale and build to that number.

Murray Valley Sanctuary Refugee Group president Penny Vine said successful refugee settlement did need to be driven from within a community.

“The moment the government says, ‘You will...’, you’re going to get an awful lot of resistance,” she said.

“So part of it is about helping people act on their good, generous thinking and creating the space for that to happen rather than it being government-controlled.”

Dr Vine said Albury and Wodonga service providers were becoming more engaged in the process of assisting refugees.

“I think we’re also more mature as a community in understanding it’s less about giving them a helping hand and more about creating space where they can get on with it themselves … where they can establish their identity as Australian,” she said. 

Mr Rutebeza said he and the refugees who came later had connected with the Border region.

“We are all committed to the community, we are working hard,” he said.

Teacher Jessica Hackett, who in 2016 walked more than 700 kilometres from Melbourne to Canberra in support of refugees, will talk about her experience in Wangaratta on Thursday night.

Rural Australians for Refugees Wangaratta will host Give Welcome, Give Hope, at the GO TAFE auditorium from 5.30pm, followed by dinner with Ms Hackett and community leaders at Tandoori Paradise Restaurant between 7.30pm and 9pm.

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