Education as a long-held dream

MICHELE HATCH

Michele Hatch is a volunteer teacher of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Michele has worked with children as a Registered Nurse in a children’s hospital, running a swim school business and teaching English for an Australian not-for-profit in Mexico. When Michele became very sick due to local poor water quality, she wondered why she was not working to make a difference in Australia. Michele completed a Graduate Certificate in TESOL at Macquarie University and was appointed to Farah’s family as a homework helper.

FARAH ALDULAIMI

Farah Aldulaimi is an Iraqi asylum seeker living in Sydney, who has received a special scholarship to attend university.

FARAH’S STORY:

My name is Farah from Iraq. I’m 18 years old. I came with my family to Australia by boat to seek asylum in 2012. We received a TPV (Temporary Protection Visa) in 2017. Since I was five, I had always felt the urge to move. Me and my family just wanted to take refuge in a place where we could live in peace.

Prior coming to Australia I lived in Syria for one year and Greece for five years. During my journey of coming to Australia I travelled to Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia. These travel experiences led me to learn three different languages including Greek, Arabic and English. I have dark and traumatic childhood stories. This is when my journey started as a refugee child. I thought it was now going to get better but it didn’t as no one was ready to take us. Ever since we left home, we never got permanently accepted to just have a peaceful life without the fear of being deported from the country any second.

My parents sacrificed their lives to get me where I’m at now. For this main reason, I want to seek further education to become an independent woman and give back to my family and all the people that helped me on the way. Education is a human right and I believe I deserve to be given a chance to prove myself. I want to show the world and young refugee girls that they are capable of doing everything and nothing should stop them from fighting towards fulfilling their dreams and becoming independent, proud women. My dream and the career path I’m hoping to pursue is a Bachelor of Architecture. Architecture can satisfy my imagination in space, materials, and colour.

During the HSC I was suffering from anxiety and stress as I wasn’t given the same rights and opportunities as my peers. I am unable to go and continue my studies at university like them because I am a refugee student who came to Australia ‘illegally’ by boat seeking a place where I would live in peace with my family, seeking an education and human rights.

So when everyone else in my peer group was focused on HSC studying or what to study at uni or what dress to pick for graduation, I was affected by severe stress, thinking, will I even be able to make it that far, or how is

my family going to support my studies? It was hard for me to learn three different languages, it took sleepless nights throughout my journey of schooling to be able to get the grades I wanted. I missed a year out of schooling during the time my family and I were coming to Australia. Being an ESL (English as a Second Language) student I had to put twice as much effort in as my other peers because I didn’t understand English. I still gave it my best and worked within the best of my abilities.

Facing those financial disadvantages I have applied for an asylum seeker scholarship to be able to fulfil my dreams. I believe there should be more scholarships for students on temporary protection/ bridging visas who are financially disadvantaged and have several barriers. Those scholarships are a chance to bring refugee students’ dreams to life. Those scholarships are not just about my dreams and future but I believe it will give hope to other needy and hopeless refugees like me in the future. Those scholarships will not just support me, but will also support other students who are seeking further education.

I hope my story makes refugee students feel they are not alone and that together we can make a change.

MICHELE WRITES:

I began working with Farah five years ago, when she had just graduated from the ESL section of Marsden High School, in Sydney’s north-west suburbs. She was shy and her English skills limited, but she was very keen to learn and do her best.

English for Farah is her third language after her native Arabic and the Greek she learned during the two years the family spent in Cyprus as refugees from Iraq. After that Farah missed several years of schooling on their journey to Australia.

Farah has proved to be a very diligent student and I know that before an assignment was due, Farah would often work until the early hours of the morning, writing and rewriting essays.

Studying at university is a long-held dream of Farah and she is supported and encouraged by her parents. Big brother Omar is studying medical engineering on one of the first refugee scholarships offered at Newcastle University and he is a great role model and inspiration for Farah.

Although Farah is still a little uncertain of her future career choice, she especially enjoyed her work experience time at younger brother Mohammed’s primary school. I saw her come home with such joy as she experienced the day of a classroom teacher. Farah loves learning and inspiring others to experience that same love.

At the moment, Farah’s family are on temporary protection visas. I have witnessed the times when the visas have expired and the family is in limbo and the threat of deportation has loomed large. I know and I do not need to ask. All these difficulties have made Farah strong. She battles through. At times I have seen Farah write letters asking for permission to attend the school camp or debate with the school principal as to why she could not apply to be considered for election as a school prefect (her attendance was one day too short that year) and fight for her corner. Farah is basically a shy person, but she shows strength and fortitude.

As for the future, I am not sure. However, Farah is determined to make the best of her lot.

I know more of the family’s struggles from Omar, who told me of how their Sunni family were persecuted in Baghdad by the Shiite majority and Daesh. I learned how dad Raad had to give up his job as a motor mechanic and worked checking cars for bombs outside the Australian army base, for which he has letters of commendation. Raad learned about the beauty of Australia from the soldiers.

Then one day, ten-year-old Omar was captured and held until extended family members paid the ransom. The family left Iraq the next day. On their way to Australia, Farah has described the scary night the soldiers boarded their leaky boat off the coast of Australia after traveling in rough seas from Indonesia. She said there was much shouting and gun waving and she remembers being very scared. After years of traveling, the family arrived just one month after Julia Gillard declared that no-one who arrived by boat could stay.

Farah has received a scholarship to study at UTS. And now I begin focusing on the youngest sibling, Mohammed, who is entering Year 8. Several things could help Farah’s family, particularly the elimination of the 785 Temporary Protection Visa, specific for people who have arrived into Australia by boat, and which limits study, work and permanent residency. This visa does not take into account people’s experiences in their own country or suitability for resettlement. Farah’s family cannot return to Baghdad due to their Sunni minority heritage and Raad’s work with the Australian Armed Forces, for which he was seen by the Shiite locals as a traitor.

I hope that Farah’s story ends brightly. She has received a refugee scholarship to enable her to gain a degree, which is an opportunity for her to continue studying and to contribute to the country that she has settled into and worked hard to create her own future.