Young Burmese refugees heal with help of music

Making music videos is helping young Burmese refugees in Australia overcome the trauma of fleeing civil war in their homeland.

Members of the Karen community, who have come from refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border, now make up the largest group to arrive in Victoria on humanitarian visas over the past five years.

The Karen are a number of Sino-Tibetan language speaking ethnic groups which reside primarily in southern and south-eastern Burma. They have been fighting a guerrilla war with Burmese authorities for greater autonomy over the past 60 years.

"When I arrived here I have no friends and I was like I don't want to go out. I want to stay home all day. I just don't want to go out," says Snow White.

As the number of Karen refugees coming to Australia started to swell in recent years, community elders quickly recognised a major problem among their youth.

"Especially those who came as unaccompanied minors," says community elder Chit Lu. "They slowly started to drop out of any mainstream education, even connections with their own community. No participation in the community even."

It has been a difficult transition but a new program harnessing a passion for song is helping their re-settlement. By allowing youths to produce and star in their own music videos, the program aims to boost self-esteem and community engagement.

Via YouTube, these music clips are also being watched by fellow Karen refugees from the same border camps, who have re-settled in different communities across the globe.

"We are oppressed, we are persecuted, racially, religiously culturally, and in a violent way," says Chit Lu.

For these youth, music has provided a crucial release from lives dominated by displacement.

"I like to play guitar. When I was seven I started to play bass. Good. I am great. I love it," says one Karen youth, Don Nay So.

Another young Burmese, Doe Doh adds: 'Sometimes it can make you feel better, sometimes it can remind you of the past you know."