Storytelling is said to be the oldest form of education.
Throughout history, storytelling has bridged the gap between generations, often delivering both entertainment and a lesson.
Even when the subject matter is painful, communicating lived experience to others is something that people are drawn to; storytelling is healing for both the speaker and listener.
Public speaker, advocate and author Philip Lako has spent recent years sharing his story in the hope it will help people better understand the experience of migrants to Australia.
From child soldier to migrant advocate
Philip spent his early childhood living with his family in a small village in South Sudan.
At the age of 10, he was taken by rebels under the guise of receiving an education.
Instead, he was kept and trained as a child soldier; for a decade, Philip was subjected to starvation and abuse at the hands of the adults who were supposed to be his caregivers.
Philip finally managed to escape to Kenya as a refugee, the beginning of what was to be an incredibly difficult four-year journey that eventually brought him to Australia.
In the years that followed, Philip went through a process many migrants to Australia are familiar with, and starting from scratch but motivated by hope, he set about building a life in a foreign country.
When asked why he now dedicates his energy to sharing such a difficult story, Philip says, "It's definitely not easy … but of course we have to make some sacrifices."
Philip explains that in sharing his story he hopes to bridge a gap between migrants and listeners who had not lived his experience.
"These are stories worth telling to remind those people, people that have never seen the other side of life … how other people live in those countries," he says.
"Developed countries have [lived] comfortably for very long, and sometimes people easily get removed from the reality of life."
Philip says he believes anyone who calls Australia home should make the effort to get to know people from other communities better.
Philip says compassion is key to making Australia a place people from all backgrounds can call home.
"This is the life circle, people go through these hurdles but the reality is everyone wants to get out of that, to get a better life," he says.
Despite being a society that outwardly prides itself on its multiculturalism, migrant stories have long been marginalised in Australia, but the push for migrant voices to be heard is gaining momentum.
Stories a reminder of shared experience
Zambian-Australian poet Taonga Sendama is a Perth-based writer and storytelling mentor who has performed all over Australia.
Taonga has also run workshops through Perth Poetry Festival, and for students in schools and university clubs.
Much of her work is centred around identity, and why sharing stories of identity is so important.
Taonga describes storytelling as "how we continue our cultures; how we communicate and … how we hold each other in the communities that we build".
The reason she shares her work, Taonga explains, is so those in migrant communities are reminded that other people have been through similar experiences and that they are far from alone.
An antidote to trauma
Taonga says there is an unfair expectation of migrant folks to tell stories that adhere to "certain tropes and narratives".
"There's no stories about love or nostalgia … you have to fit into very specific boxes," she says.
"[In my mentoring] I reassure people that no, you don't have to get up onto this platform and bleed onto a stage to be listened to or recognised, you can just talk about your love life, your friends and how much you love them."
Taonga speaks to the healing power of storytelling for minority communities and how vital it is to stop intergenerational trauma being handed down.
"If we don't talk about these things, we are just going to pass it on to the next generation who, honestly, deserves to just live their lives freely and live with as much joy and rest as we can give them," she says.
