Media enquiries:

SSI Online Communications Coordinator, Callan Lawrence, 0478 156 491, or, 02 8799 6746

SSI Marketing and Communications Manager, Angela Calabrese 0401 284 828

Refugees resettling in Australia should benefit from greater cohesion between on- and off-shore programs after Settlement Services International’s Yamamah Agha took part in the Australian Cultural Orientation (AUSCO) Exchange Program to Iran.

Ms Agha, the Humanitarian Settlement Services Service Delivery Manager at SSI, experienced firsthand the work done to help prepare refugees and humanitarian visa holders for arrival in Australia.

The AUSCO program is provided to refugee and humanitarian visa holders who are preparing to settle in Australia while still overseas in transit countries and refugee camps.

The program provides practical advice and the opportunity to ask questions about travel to and life in Australia. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is contracted to deliver AUSCO on behalf of the Department of Social Services, which funds the program.

AUSCO is currently delivered in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Middle East, with additional courses provided in other locations as required.

Ms Agha said that after participating in the program’s educational classes and answering questions she was able to make several recommendations that could further support humanitarian entrants to Australia.

“It was a magnificent experience for me and provided me with a great insight into the tremendous amount of work and effort put into delivering an AUSCO class,” Ms Agha said. “The exchange program will help us align SSI onshore orientation program content with what is already covered in AUSCO and build on it.”

Ms Agha said the group she worked with was full of questions about life in Australia.

“They had more than 150 questions on the first day about Australia’s freedom, about services in Australia, about religion and whether they could practice their own religions,” she said. “They wanted to know about how they would communicate in Australian society, could they work, how Australia treats it’s sick and old people, and would they have the same rights as Australian citizens. The group actually felt quite reassured that there was someone there from Australia to answer their questions directly.”

Ms Agha said the five-day exchange program had a critical role in ensuring onshore and offshore programs worked together for the best settlement outcomes. Among her recommendations were:

• A greater emphasis on information about youth services and rights;
• An introduction to Humanitarian Settlement Service providers in each state;
• For biographical summaries of clients to be provided to service providers such as SSI by the departments of Social Services and Immigration and Border Protection; and,
• For ongoing communication between on-shore and off-shore trainers.

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Media enquiries:

SSI Online Communications Coordinator, Callan Lawrence, 0478 156 491, or, 02 8799 6746

SSI Marketing and Communications Manager, Angela Calabrese 0401 284 828

About 300 staff, volunteers and clients celebrated Australia’s cultural diversity on Harmony Day, with a halal sausage barbecue, music, dancing and a game of soccer.

At the event on Friday, March 21, Settlement Services International Humanitarian Services Delivery Manager Yamamah Agha said the message for people to consider was that “everyone belongs”.

 “Today we are here to celebrate Harmony Day,” Yamamah said in her address to the event. “The message of Harmony Day is ‘Everyone Belongs’. It is a day to celebrate Australia’s diversity. It is a day of cultural respect for everyone who calls Australia home – from the traditional owners of this land to those who have come from many countries around the world.

“It is a day to celebrate the cohesiveness and inclusiveness of Australia that promotes cultural diversity. It is a day to celebrate the peace and beauty of diversity. Around 7.2 million people have migrated to Australia since 1945. Forty-five percent of Australians were either born overseas or one of their parents was.

“At SSI, we have over 400 staff members of whom the majority are from diverse cultural backgrounds. And we have over 75 languages representing the diversity of its people. It is amazing to realise how harmonious our society is here in Australia and it is definitely something we need to celebrate.

“It is very important for all of us that we continually strive to use the talents of everyone in our community and give people equal opportunity to contribute their talents. Diversity is our strength. It makes us a stronger, more resilient nation.

“Let’s continue to celebrate the good work by you all.” 

Harmony Day, this Friday, March 21, celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity and coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. To mark the occasion, Settlement Services International Case Manager Nedhal Amir tells her story of arrival in Australia.

Nedhal Amir came to Australia from Iraq with her husband and four children in 2005, after applying for a humanitarian entrance visa.

They fled Iraq “because of the religious discrimination,” she said. “My children, they were suffering persecution in school because of religion, because I am from the Mandaean community.”

Although Nedhal spoke English already, she said adjusting to Australian life was still difficult. “The lifestyle, the rules – all of it – it was a big challenge for us,” she said.

But Nedhal and her family were lucky to have extended family in Australia, who helped them adjust and find accommodation and education. Two of her cousins are doctors in Australia, she said, and both have played important roles for the family. But Nedhal said it was education that played the crucial role in helping her, and her family, integrate.

“First, when we arrived we took English classes, and later other different courses in TAFE,” she said. “My children also went to TAFE to study courses suitable for them. I did a diploma in community service and then volunteer work for one year. I did casual work for a Migrant Resource Centre and now I am a Case Manager, with Settlement Services International, for people who, like us, like to change their lives too.

“All my experience, all my suffering in (refugee) camps, all my skills go to my clients, to helping people.”

Nedhal established the Mandaean Women`s Union in Australia in 2006 to help the newly-arrived women re-settle with support in the forms of information sessions and outreach courses from TAFE. She has also worked as a reporter at the AL-IRAQI Arabic-language newspaper since 2005 and ALAHAD newspaper for the Mandaean community since 2006.  

The capacity to transform her own life and now help others is one reason Nedhal considers herself a proud Australian. “This is my country now,” she said. “It provides safety and a good life for me and my kids.”

Harmony Day, this Friday, March 21, celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity and coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. To mark the occasion, Settlement Services International Case Manager Oliver Maboreke tells his story of arrival in Australia.

Oliver Zvinaiye Maboreke worked for two United Nations-funded organisations in his homeland of Zimbabwe at a time when the nation’s political and economic systems were collapsing.

His work with Padare and Mass Public Opinion Institute of Southern Africa as a research team leader and gender rights advocate became increasingly difficult, he said, as the government clamped down on NGOs.

“Basically, people were persecuted because we were trying to have the government recognise human rights, social equity and justice,” Mr Maboreke said.

In 2005, he was offered post-graduate scholarships to study in four different countries.

“I was offered scholarships to study in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Australia and Russia, but I chose Australia because I am a bit of a sports person and I loved all the stories of Skippy the bush kangaroo and wildlife things,” he said with a chuckle.

“I don’t regret the decision because, actually, I think the Australian concept of ‘a fair go’ is quite feasible, but one has to work hard and get a little helping hand,” he said.

Mr Maboreke attained a Master of Social Science degree in International Project Planning and Development at Melbourne’s RMIT University.

He worked a three-month state government internship with the Department of Premier and Cabinet and moved on to a job at the Federal Department of Human Services, Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health.

Mr Maboreke applied for citizenship and officially became an Australian in 2009.

But his success masks the difficulties he traversed to understand Australia’s education and employment systems.

“There’s so much struggle that many migrant people go through,” he said, “even if they have good qualifications, it’s always very hard to get into meaningful employment.”

Mr Maboreke found a mentor program that he said was invaluable, through the African Think Tank – Leadership Victoria Community Leadership program.

 “I had a mentor, who, over a couple of months, helped me understand the system and network, and with things like filling out selection criteria for job applications,” he said.

“So with this experience and my qualifications I gradually found good skills to break into good employment opportunities.”

Mr Maboreke is now a case manager for Settlement Services International, working with people who live in the community while seeking asylum. He is also a board member on the advocacy organisation African Think Tank.

This Harmony Day, he hopes people will reflect on how valuable multiculturalism has been for Australia.

“I think multiculturalism is important because people from different cultures have lived different experiences,” he said.

“We are all human beings and I think there is a kind of shared identity, despite colour and culture or religious differences.”

Like most children, Noran Zahrooni was terrified of starting school today.

But it wasn’t teachers or lessons that had him anxious.

The six-year-old and his family arrived in Australia late last year after fleeing war-torn Syria.

Father Farhan Zahrooni told SBS his son was traumatised by the conflict and struggled to understand he was now safe.

“In Syria they usually targeted schools, so he thinks that if he goes to school he will be in danger and no one will save him,” Mr Zahrooni said through a translator.

Originally from Iraq, Mr Zahrooni and his wife, Ebtisam Al-Zuhairi, fled to Syria seven years ago after the family was targeted as members of the minority religious group, the Mandeans, in violent attacks.

“My wife was alone at home with the kids, and she was beaten and assaulted,” Mr Zahrooni said of one incident.

Shortly before they escaped, Mrs Al-Zuhairi’s brother was kidnapped and shot.

“We found him dead in the street,” Mr Zahrooni said.

But escaping to Syria provided only short-term relief from violence.

“The first three years were OK but after the war started, the situation became worse,” Mr Zahrooni said.

The family’s house was twice the target of attacks, and in one event Mr Zahrooni and his young son were crushed by a window that fell during an explosion.

After a number of unsuccessful applications for refugee status, the family were finally able to move to Australia in December 2013 after being recognised as genuine refugees.

The couple have four sons ranging in age from six to 17 – and son Raghdan, 16, said the older boys had not been in school for at least four years due to the conflict.

Yamamah Agha, a service delivery manager with Settlement Services International, told SBS that refugee children commonly struggled with “trauma, loss of family, fear of war, fear of strangers and an inability to cope and focus”.

But she said NSW had good systems in place to help with the transition.

“Our experience with schools, with a large number of multicultural students, [is that] they do have extra help for them,” she said. “They’re usually welcoming, they’re very supportive.”

Raghdan and brothers Arduan, 14, and Saman, 17, start school tomorrow and are excited to get straight into an intensive English-learning program.

 “The main thing is to learn English so I can gain confidence,” Raghdan said.

And they have a lot to look forward to if brother Noran’s first day is anything to go by.

Parents Farhan and Ebtisam said that despite his fears, their son’s first day at Marsden Road Public School – where he was registered and shown around – had gone off without a hitch.

“His experience today was really positive because he saw all the kids playing and smiling and he didn’t feel the danger around there,” Mr Zahrooni said.

“I can see how happy he is and this of course, as a mother, brings me happiness,” Mrs Al-Zuhairi added.

The couple hope it’s a sign of things to come.

“When I looked at his eyes and I see how happy he is wearing the uniform, I feel really happy and relaxed, Mr Zahrooni said.

“And I feel that everything will be beautiful.”

 Note: This story by Sylvia Varnham O’Regan first appeared on SBS News.