As a single mum with two children, Syrian refugee Collette Hannah made the bravest decision of her life leaving behind her job, her home and everything she had known when she fled her homeland to find safety for herself and her kids.

Karen Burmese refugee Evelyn Kunoo tells a heartbreaking story about her family that is emblematic of refugees across the world.

Newcomers to Australia cherish our freedom, democracy, and standard of living but some are happier than others and different groups experience varying levels of racism and exclusion, according to a first ever broad survey of the attitudes of recent migrants.

The 93-year-old Syrian refugee has seen trouble and hardship in his long life; he fought with the British army in WWII and he carved a productive farm out of a barren piece of land. But he says he has experienced nothing that compares with the bloodiness of the current conflict in Syria, nor the barbarous brutality of Islamic State.

Amid the furore around drug cheats being allowed to compete, security failures, non-existent plumbing and all pervasive social media nastiness – they are the true inspirations of the Rio Olympics. They are the 10 members of the first ever refugee team.

Newly arrived refugees and migrants are learning English with the help of high school students who act as tutors and classroom assistants in an innovative new program being pioneered in suburban Melbourne.