Relationship between population of a rural Australian town and displaced people from Kosova - Singleton Haven Centre

Relación entre la población de una localidad rural australiana y personas desplazadas provenientes de Kosovo - el Centro de Refugio de Singleton

This paper describes and explores the nature of relationships developed between citizens of Singleton, NSW, a small town in rural Australia, and displaced people from Kosova who were accommodated at the Australian Defense Force base located close to the town (Singleton Haven Centre). The author has conducted 22 interviews and 2 focus groups with service providers at Singleton Haven Centre, and utilised extensive participant observation in order to evaluate service provision at the Centre. A number of service providers were citizens of Singleton and Hunter Valley, and most participants spoke about the importance of the above relationships for Kosovars' psychosocial recovery, and an increase in cultural awareness and sensitivity of the Singleton citizens.

The paper also explores transference and counter transference reactions on a community level where, for the Singleton community as well as the Australian community at large, a movement occurred from playing a role of a savior, victim and perpetrator.

However, while the mainstream Australian community did not appear to move out of this vicious cycle, the Singleton community achieved that. The initial mistrust between the communities (Kosovar and Singleton) has been transformed into a mutually respectful relationship with a significant amount of interpersonal contact.

Additionally, the paper explores the role of Singleton Shire Council in this process and the implications for refugee resettlement in rural and regional areas.