Over the last week, Australians and the global community have joined together to celebrate the diversity of cultures and reflect on the experiences of refugees. From its humble beginnings in Sydney in 1986, Refugee Week grew to be a national event from 1988 and has grown to be a globally celebrated cultural recognition event.
Two Our Community House members act as nation-wide and world-wide leaders in recruitment and technology solutions to raise the visibility of refugees and other minority groups and connect them with employers to gain meaningful employment.
Refugee Talent (RT) is behind Australia’s first national refugee employment platform connecting over 30,000 refugees globally with over 600 employers nationally. The team works in close partnership with another of our members, Talent Beyond Boundaries which is a global organisation using technology to provide employment pathways for refugees currently based in Lebanon and Jordan. This was a world first program enabling direct employer lead pathways for refugees to settle and be employed in Australia. With a database of more than 30,000 refugees, it is a talent source for companies facing key skills shortages.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Louna Ghawi, Recruitment Manager for Refugee Talent about her experiences as a refugee in Australia.
Louna arrived in Australia as a refugee from Syria, where she and her husband lived in the City of Homs. “We both had outstanding careers, beautiful homes, family and friends on our sides and lots of dreams to work towards.”
She told me that prior to 2010, Syria was considered one of the safest countries in the world and had a completely different identity compared to how it is perceived now. Following an uprising against the president of Syria eleven years ago, a large-scale and enduring civil war broke out leaving devastated cities and millions of people displaced.
“Tourists flocked to the country for its culture, its rich history and to explore some of the oldest cities in the world.” People were not only itching for sightseeing and heritage experiences, but also craved a taste of the simple, yet abundant lifestyle of the generous and social Syrian people.
“Life importance in Syria is placed on family, religion, education, self-discipline and respect. Family is in the heart of Syrian social life,” Louna explained, “[the] lifestyle there was so diverse… and everyone lived together side by side.”
The Syrian refugee crisis is the world’s largest refugee crisis of our time. According to World Vision, about 6.6 million Syrians are refugees, and another 6.2 million people are displaced within Syria.
When Louna came to Australia, she had already learned about our rich cultural diversity before she arrived. “We knew how advanced Australia is, that Australia is a welcoming country and had already welcomed so many diverse communities.”
Despite her existing knowledge and the hope that Australia provided, the upheaval naturally turned her and her family’s lives upside down. She described the complete shift of focus that comes with being on the other side of the world; day becomes night, summer becomes winter and cars start driving on the opposite side of the road. “The weather especially in Melbourne, it was very unexpected to have four seasons in one day.”
“What was so helpful [though], is that a lot of settlement services were available, and we had access to Medicare and free education for the children. There are a lot of free activities available [like] school holiday programs at the libraries, nice parks, and very affordable access to swimming pools. These helped mostly the kids to settle with the very low budget the family needs to live with before finding employment.”
Refugees face significant challenges in Australia and around the world when it comes to finding meaningful employment. Regardless of their qualifications and career in their home country, recognition of their experience often goes unnoticed and creates significant barriers for refugees entering the Australian labour force – particularly in their trained professions.
Louna and her husband, a mechanical engineer currently working on the Metro Tunnel project, were both able to find meaningful employment in professional fields, but it wasn’t without challenges. “When the refugee applies for jobs without having references, the application gets rejected straight away. No employer will take a risk and hire someone who no one knows and didn’t have any local work experience before.”
It was through volunteering with Talent Beyond Boundaries, who is in partnership with Refugee Talent, that Louna found her current role as Recruitment Manager. She is also a member of the Victorian Divisional Advisory Board of Australian Red Cross and is very passionate about the work she, along with Refugee Talent, does to assist skilled migrants and developing Australia’s rich cultural diversity and skilled workforce.
You can find out more about the incredible work of Refugee Talent and their close partner, Talent Beyond Boundaries on their websites: https://refugeetalent.com/ & https://www.talentbeyondboundaries.org/