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WA Youth Awards Create! Propel Youth Award winner announced 21/07/10

by Lisa Wallace and Michelle Berg

Propel sits down and talks to Jeremiah Wordsworth 2010 Young Person of the Year and Create! Propel Youth Arts Award winner.

How did you arrive in Australia?

Born in Liberya, the war forced Jeremiah and his family to move from place to place in Africa, settling in a refugee camp in Guinea. After seven years, his family was given the opportunity to be interviewed for a permanent move to Australia. “I thought it was a joke,” he said, “I’d never heard of Australia before, only America”.

The family underwent an interview process before being accepted to move to Australia. Preparing for their new life in a new country, they participated in orientation process, “the expectation was that everything will be changed”, he said. And change it did, at the age of 17 in the year 2000, Jeremiah and his family moved to Australia.

What was it like moving to a new country?

For Jeremiah, moving to a new home so different from his own was a scary experience, everything was new and he had to start from scratch. He attended high school at Cyril Jackson, reigniting his passion for drama. After winning a talent show at school, opportunities started to arise and his perception about his new life started to change. “When I first arrived, it felt people treated me differently because of my nationality” he said. “It bothered me at first, but then I realised they don’t know anything about me or my country and once I started to talk, their perceptions changed”.

One thing leads to another……

Talking to fellow refugees and young people from diverse backgrounds, it became apparent to Jeremiah that many young people lost faith in their dreams when they moved to Australia. “Many of them felt that because of their nationality and background they couldn’t get the career they wanted” he said. At this point Jeremiah realised he felt very strongly about encouraging young people and refugees to follow their dreams and working with the City of Stirling, he developed a number of programs to engage young people from different cultures in the arts to re-ignite their lost faith and aspirations.

The programs engaged young people in similar situations to share their stories, issues and experiences through story writing, dance, rap, hip hop. In 2009 Jeremiah launched Migrants Got Talent, offering these young people the opportunity to showcase their talents. The program included career advice to help build their confidence and workshops to show that they can achieve their dreams regardless of their nationality. 25 young people were involved in the program, with the finals between 5 talented young people from Thailand, Maritius, Librya, Zimbabwae. Winner of Migrants Got Talent, Zimbabwaen dancer Mercy Dweh, later told Jeremiah how excited she was that people recognised her from the competition and was now pursuing her dancing dream.

The start of a new dream

It was from this experience that prompted Jeremiah to start his own organisation, Big Dreams Entertainment, helping young people from culturally diverse backgrounds participate in the arts and help them achieve their dreams. Working with the Edmund Rice Centre, Jeremiah works hard to find funds and places for his programs, approaching organisations, advocating the arts and volunteering.

In 2010 Jeremiah was the Western Australian winner of the inaugural 2010 Prime Minister’s Australian Youth Forum Challenge. The challenge rewards young people showing outstanding creativity in proposing ways for young people to directly engage with their communities. Awarded $15,000 Jeremiah is currently using the funds to create a talent show and awards night. The show will go to schools and community groups allowing young people to nominate themselves or others to enter.

Currently Jeremiah is organising MC Workshops with the City of Stirling. Held in Mirrabooka, the workshops will span over 9 weeks and will include professional choegraphers, leaderships and give young people the opportunity to form their own dance troupe and perform in Astor Theatre. The FREE workshops will be held Thursday and Friday afternoons 3pm – 5pm and are open to all young people aged 12 – 26 years. Young people wanting to get involved can email Jeremiah at dupree87@hotmail.com or call 0413 277 625

So what is YOUR dream?

After studying Film and Television at Central Institute of Technology, Jeremiah realised his dream to become a film director. He is also very determined to return to Africa and help make people smile, which is something he discovered after helping with Migrants Got Talent, “It’s not about the money at all, it’s about making people smile”, he said.

Jeremiah was the winner of WA Youth Awards 2010 Create! Propel Youth Arts Award and WA Young Person of the Year. The WA Youth Awards celebrate the contributions of outstanding young Western Australians to their communities across a range of fields – environmental, artistic, humanitarian, sport and recreation and citizenship.