Ben was born into a Berber family in a small town in Morocco, the youngest of 11 children. While, for various reasons, some older siblings had to drop out of school early, Ben was an enthusiastic student. A teacher at high school inspired him to take an interest in some of the social issues he noticed around him and this lead him to studying a degree in Sociology.

Ben followed the academic path after graduating, first doing a Masters in Malaysia and then coming to Tasmania to do his Phd and eventually becoming a lecturer. The main focus of his research has been housing, from the slums of Casablanca to the housing crisis in Tasmania and its various causes and consequences.

Aymen's first experience of Australia was arriving at Sydney Airport with no English or knowledge of his new country and getting very lost and missing his connecting flight.

His lack of English was a problem at first, but his soccer skills helped him get involved with the local soccer community and this opened up social networks and job opportunities that Aymen took advantage of.

Aymen grew up in Khartoum, but at around the age of 18, the threat of enforced military service became very real and he decided to escape to Egypt, and after two years, he was able to join his brother in Tasmania.

Since arriving in Tasmania about a year ago, Michael has got somewhat accustomed to people questioning whether Benin is a real country - an indication of how little known his homeland is in Australia.

Benin is a small country in West Africa, squeezed between the much larger Nigeria and Togo. It was formerly part of a much larger Kingdom of Dahomey and was also one of the centres of the Atlantic slave trade. A legacy of this is seen in places like Haiti, Cuba, Brazil and New Orleans, where Voodoo is still practised, a belief system originating in Benin. In western culture this has become associated with pushing pins into dolls, but in Benin it is still a very much accepted bona fide religion.

Michael's story is remarkable other ways though. From a tough time as a child at a boarding school in Nigeria, to University studies in Ghana, where he'd secretly hoped to further his soccer career, he eventually got a scholarship to study agriculture in Israel. During his year in Israel he fell in love with a Filipina, and she was the eventual inspiration for him to come to Tasmania.

He arrived in Tasmania to study but with no contacts, little money, no secured accommodation and no partner ( her visa was rejected). His strategy for dealing with this situation and getting on his feet in Hobart was pretty unique and a really great story, which I'm not going to spoil here.