Homework for refugee middle school students with backgrounds marked by low levels of engagement with English school literacy

Homework presents many challenges for refugees from Africa who are arriving in Australian schools with histories of little, no or severely interrupted schooling. This is evident in the emergence of school- and community-based homework help, clubs and tutoring programs for the students. The aim of this article is to describe the homework support options accessed by eight students from Burundi, Rwanda, Eritrea and Sudan who participated in a study of pedagogy for middle school-aged African refugees, and the views on homework of their parents and teachers. The article shows some tensions between family and school expectations and the dilemmas that arise for teachers in a broader context of public concern about and official policy statement on excessive and repetitive homework. It is argued that application of policy guidelines needs to account for disadvantages that potentially accrue to students who cannot design their own independent study programs. Further, it is suggested that integration of skills and meaning-based pedagogy inherent in recent approaches to literacy education has potential for ensuring that students receive the forms of homework they require.

The experience of xenophobia in South Africa

In May 2008, xenophobic violence erupted in South Africa. The targets were individuals who had migrated from the north in search of asylum. Emerging first in township communities around Johannesburg, the aggression spread to other provinces. Sixty-two people died, and 100,000 (20,000 in the Western Cape alone) were displaced. As the attacks escalated across the country, thousands of migrants searched for refuge in police stations and churches. Chilling stories spread about mobs armed with axes, metal bars, and clubs. The mobs stormed from shack to shack, assaulted migrants, locked them in their homes, and set the homes on fire. The public reaction was one of shock and horror. The Los Angeles Times declared, “Migrants Burned Alive in S. Africa.” The South African president at the time, Thabo Mbeki, called for an end to “shameful and criminal attacks.” Commentators were stunned by the signs of hatred of foreigners (xenophobia) that emerged in the young South African democracy. The tragedy of the violence in South Africa was magnified by the fact that many of the victims had fled from violence and persecution in their countries of origin. Amid genocidal violations of human rights that had recently occurred in some countries in sub- Saharan Africa, the new South Africa stood as a beacon of democracy and respect for human dignity. With this openness in mind, many immigrants to South Africa sought safety and refuge from the conflicts in their homelands. More than 43,500 refugees and 227,000 asylum seekers now live in South Africa. The majority of people accorded refugee status came from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia. South Africa also hosts thousands of other migrants who remain undocumented.

Viruses of banana in East Africa

Bananas are one of the world's most important food crops, providing sustenance and income for millions of people in developing countries and supporting large export industries. Viruses are considered major constraints to banana production, germplasm multiplication and exchange, and to genetic improvement of banana through traditional breeding. In Africa, the two most important virus diseases are bunchy top, caused by Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV), and banana streak disease, caused by Banana streak virus (BSV). BBTV is a serious production constraint in a number of countries within/bordering East Africa, such as Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Zambia, but is not present in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Additionally, epidemics of banana streak disease are occurring in Kenya and Uganda. The rapidly growing tissue culture (TC) industry within East Africa, aiming to provide planting material to banana farmers, has stimulated discussion about the need for virus indexing to certify planting material as virus-free. Diagnostic methods for BBTV and BSV have been reported and, for BBTV, PCR-based assays are reliable and relatively straightforward. However for BSV, high levels of serological and genetic variability and the presence of endogenous virus sequences within the banana genome complicate diagnosis. Uganda has been shown to contain the greatest diversity in BSV isolates found anywhere in the world. A broad-spectrum diagnostic test for BSV detection, which can discriminate between endogenous and episomal BSV sequences, is a priority. This PhD project aimed to establish diagnostic methods for banana viruses, with a particular focus on the development of novel methods for BSV detection, and to use these diagnostic methods for the detection and characterisation of banana viruses in East Africa. A novel rolling-circle amplification (RCA) method was developed for the detection of BSV. Using samples of Banana streak MY virus (BSMYV) and Banana streak OL virus (BSOLV) from Australia, this method was shown to distinguish between endogenous and episomal BSV sequences in banana plants. The RCA assay was used to screen a collection of 56 banana samples from south-west Uganda for BSV. RCA detected at least five distinct BSV isolates in these samples, including BSOLV and Banana streak GF virus (BSGFV) as well as three BSV isolates (Banana streak Uganda-I, -L and -M virus) for which only partial sequences had been previously reported. These latter three BSV had only been detected using immuno-capture (IC)-PCR and thus were possible endogenous sequences. In addition to its ability to detect BSV, the RCA protocol was also demonstrated to detect other viruses within the family Caulimoviridae, including Sugar cane bacilliform virus, and Cauliflower mosaic virus. Using the novel RCA method, three distinct BSV isolates from both Kenya and Uganda were identified and characterised. The complete genome of these isolates was sequenced and annotated. All six isolates were shown to have a characteristic badnavirus genome organisation with three open reading frames (ORFs) and the large polyprotein encoded by ORF 3 was shown to contain conserved amino acid motifs for movement, aspartic protease, reverse transcriptase and ribonuclease H activities. As well, several sequences important for expression and replication of the virus genome were identified including the conserved tRNAmet primer binding site present in the intergenic region of all badnaviruses. Based on the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) guidelines for species demarcation in the genus Badnavirus, these six isolates were proposed as distinct species, and named Banana streak UA virus (BSUAV), Banana streak UI virus (BSUIV), Banana streak UL virus (BSULV), Banana streak UM virus (BSUMV), Banana streak CA virus (BSCAV) and Banana streak IM virus (BSIMV). Using PCR with species-specific primers designed to each isolate, a genotypically diverse collection of 12 virus-free banana cultivars were tested for the presence of endogenous sequences. For five of the BSV no amplification was observed in any cultivar tested, while for BSIMV, four positive samples were identified in cultivars with a B-genome component. During field visits to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, 143 samples were collected and assayed for BSV. PCR using nine sets of species-specific primers, and RCA, were compared for BSV detection. For five BSV species with no known endogenous counterpart (namely BSCAV, BSUAV, BSUIV, BSULV and BSUMV), PCR was used to detect 30 infections from the 143 samples. Using RCA, 96.4% of these samples were considered positive, with one additional sample detected using RCA which was not positive using PCR. For these five BSV, PCR and RCA were both useful for identifying infected samples, irrespective of the host cultivar genotype (Musa A- or B-genome components). For four additional BSV with known endogenous counterparts in the M. balbisiana genome (BSOLV, BSGFV, BSMYV and BSIMV), PCR was shown to detect 75 infections from the 143 samples. In 30 samples from cultivars with an A-only genome component there was 96.3% agreement between PCR positive samples and detection using RCA, again demonstrating either PCR or RCA are suitable methods for detection. However, in 45 samples from cultivars with some B-genome component, the level of agreement between PCR positive samples and RCA positive samples was 70.5%. This suggests that, in cultivars with some B-genome component, many infections were detected using PCR which were the result of amplification of endogenous sequences. In these latter cases, RCA or another method which discriminates between endogenous and episomal sequences, such as immuno-capture PCR, is needed to diagnose episomal BSV infection. Field visits were made to Malawi and Rwanda to collect local isolates of BBTV for validation of a PCR-based diagnostic assay. The presence of BBTV in samples of bananas with bunchy top disease was confirmed in 28 out of 39 samples from Malawi and all nine samples collected in Rwanda, using PCR and RCA. For three isolates, one from Malawi and two from Rwanda, the complete nucleotide sequences were determined and shown to have a similar genome organisation to previously published BBTV isolates. The two isolates from Rwanda had at least 98.1% nucleotide sequence identity between each of the six DNA components, while the similarity between isolates from Rwanda and Malawi was between 96.2% and 99.4% depending on the DNA component. At the amino acid level, similarities in the putative proteins encoded by DNA-R, -S, -M, - C and -N were found to range between 98.8% to 100%. In a phylogenetic analysis, the three East African isolates clustered together within the South Pacific subgroup of BBTV isolates. Nucleotide sequence comparison to isolates of BBTV from outside Africa identified India as the possible origin of East African isolates of BBTV.

Breastfeeding beliefs and practices of African women living in Brisbane and Perth, Australia

The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of breastfeeding among refugee women from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo living in two major capital cities in Australia. Participants were recruited from their relevant community associations and via a snowballing technique. Thirty-one women took part in either individual interviews or facilitated group discussions to explore their experiences of breastfeeding in their home country and in Australia. Thematic analysis revealed four main themes: cultural breastfeeding beliefs and practices; stigma and shame around breastfeeding in public; ambivalence towards breastfeeding and breastfeeding support. Women who originated from these four African countries highlighted a significant desire for breastfeeding and an understanding that it was the best method for feeding their infants. Their breastfeeding practices in Australia were a combination of practices maintained from their countries of origin and those adopted according to Australian cultural norms. They exemplified the complexity of breastfeeding behaviour and the relationship between infant feeding with economic status and the perceived social norms of the host country. The results illustrate the need for policy makers and health professionals to take into consideration the environmental, social and cultural contexts of the women who are purportedly targeted for the promotion of breastfeeding.

Detection of banana bunchy top virus in virus-infected plants using polymerase chain reaction

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed for the detection of Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) at maximum after 210 min and at minimum after 90 min using Pc-1 and Pc-2, respectively. PCR detection of BBTV in crude sap indicated that the freezing of banana tissue in liquid nitrogen (LN2) before extraction was more effective than using sand as the extraction technique. BBTV was also detected using PCR assay in 69 healthy and diseased plants using Na-PO4 buffer containing 1 % SDS. PCR detection of BBTV in nucleic acid extracts using seven different extraction buffers to adapt the use of PCR in routine detection in the field was studied. Results proved that BBTV was detected with high sensitivity in nucleic acid extracts more than in infectious sap. The results also suggested the common aetiology for the BBTV by the PCR reactions of BBTV in nucleic acid extracts from Australia, Burundi, Egypt, France, Gabon, Philippines and Taiwan. Results also proved a positive relation between the Egyptian-BBTV isolate and abaca bunchy top isolate from the Philippines, but there no relation was found with the Cucumber mosaic cucumovirus (CMV) isolates from Egypt and Philippines and Banana bract mosaic virus (BBMV) were found.