For African-Australian year 12 student Jeanne Munyonge, belonging is something she struggled with throughout high school.
Ms Munyonge said to her, belonging meant to feel comfortable in an environment.
But being the only black girl in the entire year level of her Adelaide high school, she said had it not been for her cousin who later joined the campus, she would not have experienced fitting in.
"Me and [my cousin] would always hang out together, and that's when I was like, 'At this point I'm not going to belong here … we don't. So, let's just stick together'," Ms Munyonge said.
Ms Munyonge's experiences are not rare.
In fact, a Victorian study earlier this year, revealed 91 per cent of African-Australian students witnessed racism in schools, with students reportedly feeling discriminated against by their teachers.
"When I would come to them with a problem that would happen, they wouldn't take it seriously," Ms Munyonge said.
"There's been times when something would happen — somebody offended me or said something offensive — and even though sometimes they wouldn't say it to me, it's like you were saying something that's offensive not only to me but to my people as well."
Research program to fill the gap
University of South Australia senior lecturer Melanie Baak said a sense of belonging was "everything".
"It's what we need as humans, to feel connected. That we fit and that we can be who we want to be in whatever spaces we're in," she said.
The Australian Research Council will pay $460,000 towards a new research project which will look into how African youth experience a sense of belonging, in conjunction with the University of South Australia, which will provide a scholarship for the PhD research program.
Dr Baak will be supervising the program and said the hope was to use the research to inform society about how to foster belonging in communities and how people of different races are seen by the wider society.
And she said it would start by looking into high schools.
"In secondary schooling, teachers are often seeing 120 kids in a day, [so] it's much harder to build that deep knowledge of every student that comes through your class," she said.
Dr Baak said at times the diversity of teaching staff could also create barriers for connections.
"We know that most of our teachers are white middle-class, predominantly females but also males. So, a lot of African diaspora students don't see themselves represented in their teaching staff and the teachers similarly can't see themselves reflected in the students," she said.
Ms Munyonge said her school recently employed an African teacher, which brought the assurance of being understood.
"Now I know there's a teacher who's actually from the same place as me and probably has experienced the same things I'm experiencing," she said.
"So, if something happens, I can go to him, I can talk to him. But with other teachers you don't really have that trust."
Belonging 'a warm embrace'
Gabriel Akon, 28, believes the feeling of being welcomed and the ability to trust is essential for young people.
"I've always gone by the concept of, 'A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth'," Mr Akon said.
He said it was something he advocated for in his work as a hip hop artist and record label founder.
"If it's not done, these children will not only turn against themselves, but they'll turn against a society they thought they belonged in," he said.
Mr Akon has been working with Dr Baak delivering a lecture to university students completing their teaching degrees.
The lecture explores schooling from a refugee background and highlights the experience of black African students in Australian schools, with Mr Akon even sharing his own experiences of racism in schools.
Mr Akon said the research from this new PhD program could help create a level playing field for all students.
Something Bior Aguer said would have been valuable during his own time in school.
Mr Aguer arrived in Australia at the age of four as an unaccompanied minor almost 20 years ago and has since gone on to become an author and community advocate.
"It's very interesting because I never thought I would write a book, I was more into sport — basketball. I thought that was where I was heading," he said.
"Until I realised that here in Australia, I needed to bring a voice. I felt like there was something that wasn't being said, especially for my community, so I decided to focus more on the humanities."
Mr Aguer said there were cultural differences at play when it came to African youth and the education system.
And he believed barriers could be broken through open conversation and understanding.
"I do feel like I have a sense of belonging now; however, there is room for improvement and we're ever growing in our society and we need to have voices heard from the African diaspora on how they feel in school," he said.
Speaking up for the future
With graduation in clear sight, Ms Munyonge is now part of the PhD program's youth reference group.
Her hope is that by speaking up, she can encourage others to do the same.
"Use your voice, because I remember in school a lot of the students actually started losing hope, and every time there was a problem they would just push it aside," she said.
But she says keep trying.
"At the end of the day, yes, you're going to leave the school, but other younger people are going to come. And you can pave the way for them. They don't have to struggle like we struggled," she said.
