The longest-standing mentor on the books of the Flemington-Kensington Mentor Program, Mr Newell has worked for six years at helping African youth to settle in one of Melbourne's most multicultural suburbs.

"A friend suggested the program to me when I was going through a tough time in my own life. I went along to the meeting and was set up with my first mentoree, Mo, then later I met Peter.

"It was like speed-dating where you have a quick chat with everyone and then pick your favourite. Peter picked me straight away. I think he saw me as a giant text book to help with his homework," Mr Newell laughs.

Indeed, schoolwork was one of many daily tasks Sudanese refugee Peter Shibak Kur Mum struggled with when he arrived in Australia.

Mr Newell says Peter often called on him at the last minute for help with assignments. "He once rocked up at my house when I was hosting friends for dinner.

"He had a presentation to do the next day, which he hadn't started. I was going to take him through it, but I thought it was much easier if I just wrote the whole thing for him. I was chuffed to hear later we got full marks on the assignment."

These days, Mr Newell encourages Peter to finish off his own schoolwork. "Mentoring is about empowering people to do things on their own, so I try to help out to a point and let him take it from there. But I can't blame him for arriving unannounced to get help with his work.

"Imagine going to a school where you don't understand the language. Peter was 14 when he came to Australia, having lost everything in Sudan. He doesn't even know if his parents are alive and the only family he has in Melbourne are school-age distant cousins, or 'brothers', as he calls them. He was trying to learn the language, go to school, cook, shop and look after himself, with no guidance."

Mr Newell said that despite the difficulty of trying to fend for himself and overcome racism, language and cultural barriers, and the ups and downs of adolescence, Peter never complained. "For many Western people, what he's been through might be a reason for not doing well, but these guys (African refugees) are survivors."