You get what you give

Most mornings when Mohammad* wakes up, he looks at his phone just like most other Australians today. But while we all check our email, Facebook or missed calls, he checks his UN mobile app that tells him what bombs have gone off overnight in his home country of Afghanistan.  

The day I met him, a local university had just been attacked.

“When we drop our children off at school in Afghanistan, we don’t say ‘see you later’, we say goodbye.” he says.

It’s therefore not a big surprise that he made the difficult decision to seek asylum here in Australia with three of his six children, while the other three await refuge in India with his wife.  Of their six children, five are daughters who until recently would have struggled to study at all if they stayed in Afghanistan, where girls are still drastically underrepresented in schools.

Whilst seeking asylum in Australia, Mohammad and his children dedicate any spare time they might have to helping others. And despite being separated from half their family as they await answers around permanent residency here, Mohammad seems to always have a smile.

“If you give something to the community, the community gives back” he says.

While not studying, Mohammad and his children volunteer at Monash Health and at three different organisations helping people seeking asylum and refugees (including ASRC).  Their tasks range from helping out in the foodbank, talking to dialysis patients, reception and aged care services.  They rack up hours across six days a week that exceed most normal full-time jobs.

“My favourite thing about volunteering is helping people, and representing that I am a an asylum seeker to other people. That we’re not here to sit, sleep and eat, we want to do something significant for the community and for the people”.

In Afghanistan, when he wasn’t at his paid job working at the UN, he would volunteer as a nurse treating people affected by bomb mines, making room for new refugee settlements in Pakistan and Iran.

Here he is able to survive with the help of the many services provided by the ASRC, including legal assistance, food and education.

His life has been committed to helping others, and hopefully soon Australia will be able to help him in officially welcoming his family as permanent residents.

*A pseudonym has been used to protect the subject’s identity.

Photos: Kim Landy

Discover the many ways you can get involved to help people seeking asylum and the ASRC.  Or you can also donate here.