Mother, teacher, refugee, comedian: the many roles of Thereze Miburo

Thereze Miburo lives life to the fullest.

From learning to teach swimming to new Australians, to teaching high school maths, to taking to the stage as a stand-up comedian – all while raising 5 children – her attitude is simple: take advantage of every opportunity.  

And once you hear her story, it’s easy to understand why. 

For 13 years, Thereze lived in a refugee camp in Tanzania after fleeing her home country Burundi when civil war broke out.  

From age 6 to 19, the camp was home, before she moved to Australia in 2007. One of 8 children, she has mixed memories of the time – she loved her friends and was able to attend school, but it was also a time of hardship. 

‘I feel very blessed to be in Australia now,’ she says. 

‘But being a kid in the camp, you don’t really have a sense of anything other than playing with other kids – we would do schooling, we would fetch water and firewood and it was all we knew. It was always hard to think about the future because you had no idea what it would look like. 

‘The funny thing is that camping here is such a big part of the culture and people get so excited about going to stay in a tent with no water – I am not excited by that thought at all. I go “what are you thinking?”’ 

Now, she lives in Logan with her 5 children – the youngest born in late 2022, the eldest almost 10 – where she juggles motherhood with a range of skills, including teaching maths, working as an interpreter, a side gig as a stand-up comic, and completing a course to qualify her as a swimming teacher via Swim Logan. 

‘One thing about Australia is that there is so much opportunity out there, and I always want to make the most of that,’ the Kingston resident says.  

Despite coming to Australia knowing very little English, Thereze was able to complete a degree in Science IT and do post-graduate study in teaching, after learning the language via adult education classes. 

Thereze finds a lot of content for her stand-up material in the complex world of language translation and cultural misunderstandings, and the experience of desperately trying to connect with others while not quite getting what they mean.

‘When you take the translation between 2 languages literally, it can lead to confusion and be quite funny,’ says Thereze. 

‘This is both the case in spoken language and cultural communication, things like eye contact. In my culture you do not need to have eye contact when you talk to someone as long as they can hear you, and sometimes too much eye contact is aggressive – here, it is rude not to look at someone. So, you can have 2 people trying hard to be polite to each other and both wondering why the other is being rude. 

‘I also remember being in a classroom here learning on the computer and being told to close down our windows and use my mouse – it was all very confusing because the room had no windows, and I am terrified of mice! 

‘I have always laughed and joked a lot – with my family and with my children and friends, and even though I am quite quiet and shy I really like making people laugh,’ she says. 

‘The first time I went on stage I was so nervous I couldn’t feel my feet, but once I got my first laugh I was able to feel a connection with the audience and from then on it felt like I was with friends. 

‘It can be a bit scary but most things are the first time you try them.’ 

Thereze’s next goal is one she’s already halfway towards achieving: teaching other new Australians to swim as a teacher. Thereze first learnt to swim with Logan City Council’s Swim Logan program in 2021 and now she is passionate about passing on those skills to others.  

‘I love swimming, it is one of the best things you can do to feel good and be good to your body, and I never swam before coming here,’ she says.  

‘I am really looking forward to getting my qualification. You can get so much joy from seeing people achieve and learn a new skill – one of the best and most important skills you can have in Australia. 

‘I also made a lot of friends in the process with so many people with such different stories. We felt a connection when we shared our stories – some of us with similar stories, some very different.  

‘Obviously now I have a little baby but, in a year or so, I will be taking all these things up again – the swimming teaching, the relief teaching and the stand up. It is good to be busy.’ 

You can check out Thereze’s comedy here: First gig ever – YouTube 

The Swim Logan program was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health until December 2022.