A wrap on Refugee Week: Celebrating stories of Resilience, Courage, Hope and Family.

Zaki:

My life was threatened by the Taliban back in 2012. I was forced to flee Afghanistan. Being a Hazara-Farmitic minority, Afghanistan has never been safe for my community, and particularly for my family.

I sought asylum by seeing Australia, and I was impacted extremely by the cruel asylum policy. At the time, I wasn’t a citizen, and I was not a permanent resident. So therefore, I could not sponsor my family. Yet, my family was still running for their lives.

They were running to the airport to get on a plane and to go out of Afghanistan anywhere to be safe. And with the help of the organisations, for example, my work at Amnesty, we managed to bring my family to safety. Once their visa was granted, IOM arranged their flights to Australia and I knew the flight number. I was tracking them to Sydney. So I went to the airport. I waited for about an hour or two. I was very anxious. It was a magical moment to see them and welcome them to safety.

We have been living apart for over, by then, over 11 years. When I left, my siblings were really young.

But also for my siblings, they have been running for their lives for a very long time.

And I think, still it’s hard to believe when they go out that there is no bomb that will go off, there’s no Taliban chasing them.

That sense of safety net is still unreal for my siblings. Under the Taliban regime, a woman, you’re not allowed to go to university, you’re not allowed to work. Here they are in Australia, they can enjoy that freedom. There’s no restrictions, there’s no law to prevent them of going outside. They can go out during the day, they’re going to Teff, enjoying the freedom of movement that they have, sitting with them in the car, seeing them driving, which is a right that women in Afghanistan do not have. Those basic rights that they enjoy is really empowering for me to see my sisters. My family has done really well. Within a year, they’re all either studying full-time or working full-time. For example, one of my brother is in construction work. He’s painting houses. My other brother is in IT, working for Woolworths. I think that’s a reflection that refugees, when they are forcibly in persecution, war, and conflict, they’re eager to grab any opportunity and to thrive, and that’s what my family has shown.

Zaki’s brother: And since we arrived Australia, It has started a new life and new challenges for all of us. So, like for me, myself, my English was not so good. I had to start to tape.

And now I’m working in IT for Woolworth as an IT team member.

I will try my best to use this opportunity in Australia.

Zaki’s sister: Afghanistan, no driving, no study, just in the home. And cooking does just this. And Australia is very good. The girls are very happy, going to work, study, drive. Very good.

Zaki:

Every number that we talk about, our refugee intake, is an opportunity for someone to come here and build a life for themselves, and also give back to our community the way that my family has been doing for the last year.

My name is Hedayat Ossian and I’m a former refugee from Afghanistan. I run a social enterprise called Community Construction. I am the founder and CEO. I was born in the regional part of Afghanistan.

I had a very happy and peaceful life with my family and my community until the Taliban came in 2009 and they destroyed my whole childhood. They destroyed the village, they burned the house, and my mum told me you have to leave Afghanistan because this time they’re going to take you as well. 

After nine days in a boat journey from Indonesia to Christmas Island, when we got to Christmas Island, the Australian government, they put me in a detention centre. I was in Christmas Island Detention Centre for three months and I did a couple of interviews. Finally, I was recognised as a genuine refugee and I was released from the detention centre. So I was excited to embrace this new opportunity. So I moved to Western Sydney where I tried to learn the language because I couldn’t speak a word of English so I went to English class. During this time, I was working part time with Cumberland Council in Western Sydney and also I was working with a few refugee-led organisations. And I just realised that there’s a huge gap in the society.

Most of the refugees, they are struggling to find sustainable jobs. And those who get jobs, they will be exploited at the workforce because they don’t speak English, they have lack of network, they don’t have any family member to support them.

So I decided to do something for them and I did some research and I found that construction is booming in Australia. It’s a huge industry. On the other hand, there’s a huge labour shortage in this industry. And I thought it’s a perfect match so we can use this anti-brisket refugee to fill this gap. So I started a very small tiling company in 2017 with my co-founder Jahangir. And after a few months’ time, we secured three big projects across Nisseltals.

Now I employ and train 90 people who are working full time as a trader and they make a huge contribution to strong society and the economy. It’s a win-win game.

My name is Chantal Mossad. I’m originally from Syria, Damascus. I came to Australia in May 2017 with my daughter Ayla.

The war started in Syria in 2011. I had my daughter Ayla and I decided at that time to move out from Syria.

It was very hard for me to continue my life as a single mom and I couldn’t back to the war zone.

My daughter started growing up, started recognizing and realising that things it’s getting harder on me and her. I took the decision to try to find a humanitarian visa for both of us.

Literally, I came to Australia in 2017, in 8th of May 2017, with nothing, like just a few bags, put behind myself, my family, close friends, I lost career, house, everything.

Just coming with few bags was very emotionally in the airport, like I’m leaving everything and coming to Australia. Part of my decision to migrate to Australia, so I don’t want my daughter to grow up in an area judging her as a female or comparing her to male. This was a big responsibility to me to bring her over to Australia so her limitation is her imagination.

My daughter, Ayla, she’s an artist, she’s playing football, going to the beach, swim, gymnastics. Now she is in the debating team for school, competing other schools. She gets scholarship because she’s smart.

And this is part of the beautiful things in Australia when you are working hard. And I feel she’s doing great. I believe that she’s doing great. And here in Australia, she will get the best also education. As a newcomer refugee from Middle East and single mom, the freedom that we have in this country, I can’t valuate this. It’s amazing.