Refugee

It had been exactly two years since …

He stepped foot on Australian soil for the first time.

His face was brimming with joy when he told us that …

How glad he was to be finally in Australia
after years of living as a refugee in Lebanon with his family.

As a Syrian refugee, George is among the luckiest,
having been granted a refugee visa by the Australian government.
Life was unbearable in Syria,

He has been ravaged by years of bloody civil wars.

The wars were prolonged by conflicting foreign interests.

He and his family lived in Aleppo.

A is a densely populated city in Syria and key battleground city  

“I remember one day there were explosions everywhere.

You could see all the destroyed buildings, the smoke.

 You could see dead bodies everywhere.

They stayed for months without access to water or electricity

before they decided to leave for Beirut.

It wasn't easy living as a refugee.

You are not allowed to work. You're not allowed to study.

“Imagine living the life [menjalani hidup] where you're not allowed to work and have to survive”.

Unlike in Beirut, it was easy to start a new life in Australia.

One of the reasons is that he received assistance from a not-for-profit organization that aims to help newcomers 

“They took me to register in an [English] language school.

They also provided jobs.

You can even work with them even though you don’t have experience because,

unfortunately, in Australia, it’s very difficult to have a job if you don’t have experience.
George admitted, however, that while most of the Australians he met were welcoming, some were not.


During his two years living in Australia, he experienced one incident of racism.

This is also an opportunity for us as refugees to show to these people who discriminate us that,

‘Yeah, I’m a refugee. But I’m a human like you’.

And this is something that that the people who are racist do not realize.

I’m a human. There is no difference between you and me.

Racial incidents in Australia were isolated cases that could not be used to generalize the whole country.
It was unfortunate that prejudice and racism could be seen everywhere.

we could also see the opposite in the Australian community.
The community are giving up their own time and resources to engage newcomers.
The nation, however, is facing criticism over its offshore migrant detentions, with the United Nations accusing Canberra of human rights violations. 
The Australian government has denied the accusation.

Regional processing and third-country resettlement arrangements are implemented in accordance with international law and with respect for human rights.”
They are free to move in and out of their accommodation without restriction.