Supporting his community and giving back to the country that afforded him safety is Afghan refugee Abdul Ibrahimi’s motivation to volunteer.
The 22-year-old fled his home city of Kabul in 2022 when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
Abdul’s family owned and ran a clothing manufacturing and retail business that they were forced to abandon.
“It was a scary time. We heard the Taliban were coming and that they had taken over some provinces. Then surprisingly we heard that they had come to Kabul. Everyone was worried and we had to close our businesses and go home,” he said.
Abdul’s sister worked at the Australian embassy, so his family were offered visas to come to Australia. Like tens of thousands of others, they left their homeland on an evacuation flight out of Kabul’s international airport. But his sudden departure came with heartbreak for Abdul.
“I was married on August 23, 2022, and we left on August 24. I had to leave because of my family’s connections with a western government, but my wife stayed behind with her family,” he said.
Abdul has applied for a visa to be able to bring his wife to Melbourne and is waiting for it to be processed.
He currently works with a printing company in Melbourne’s north and volunteers with refugee and migrant settlement agency AMES Australia in Dallas, with whom he was a client after arriving in Australia.
“I had a great experience with AMES, so I wanted to help them support other refugees,” he said.
As a speaker of Dari and Persian and a community services graduate, Abdul is able to interpret and translate for newly arrived refugees.
“My main work as a volunteer is to translate for people. I help explain to them the services and opportunities available to them and help them connect with programs that can support their settlement journeys.
“I can use my own experience as a refugee to help people through the process of settling here; and I can help them understand how things work in Australia; things like public transport, schools and medical appointments,” he said.
“Volunteering for me is very rewarding. I enjoy helping people and it is a way I can give back to my own community and to Australian society in general,” Abdul said.
National Volunteer Week ran between May 20 and 26. This year’s theme was ‘Something for Everyone’.
