The Shape of Hope

Sarah is a young Hazara woman. Her family fled Afghanistan and eventually arrived in Melbourne via Christmas Island and Curtin Detention Centre. After missing years of education, the adjustment to Year 10 studies took an almost super-human effort. But in the process, she discovered a love for chemistry and is now studying Pharmacy at Monash Uni. Of course, it wasn’t quite that simple…

In 2019 Aamir started his Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Honours). He lives in Melbourne with his family. They’ve been in Australia for about eight years now, and he is a skilled and active member of Hope Co-Op. In this chapter he describes an evening in his home city of Quetta, Pakistan when, on the way home from maths tuition, two large bombs changes the course of his life…

Jill’s family knows about leaving home because you’re in danger. Her Jewish great-grandfather fled a Polish pogrom and settled in Germany; her parents moved to South Africa because of Hitler; and in 1980, after receiving threats because of their opposition to apartheid, Jill and her husband David left South Africa for Melbourne. She describes starting again in a new country as ‘a kind of madness’, and is an activist and advocate for people from refugee backgrounds.

Sally was curriculum leader and senior Year 12 teacher in St Joseph’s asylum-seeker program. In 2014, many of the students were just out of detention, and few schools would take them because the government wouldn’t fund their education. In this chapter Sally describes the process of creating a safe place to belong. “Over the Christmas holidays I had dragged in wooden desks, a bookshelf, a fridge and a kettle. We sipped sweet black tea and talked - just human beings together…”

For Sally and the rest of the staff, St Joseph’s was a wonderful, but difficult, place to teach. As well as the program for asylum seeker students, there were other programs for students with a variety of serious life challenges. The inevitable difficult behaviours meant that sometimes the campus would be locked down or even closed. Sally and the staff would meet their asylum seeker students off-site - in cafes, shopping centres or at home. In doing so, they discovered the warm hospitality of the students and their families…

“I am a Hazara, and it was especially dangerous for us.” Mujtaba is an intelligent young man who seems to do everything with dignity and maturity. As a teenager, he made the decision to leave Afghanistan and find a safe place to live. With no family in Australia, he describes the significant challenges of adapting, finishing his education and starting to build a life here. Along the way, he has been an active contributor to the Hope Co-Op community. He is now working as a civil engineer with a major construction company.

Ghanieh is one of the founding members of Hope Co-Op. She has now completed her double degree in Nursing/Midwifery and was accepted for a Doctor of Medicine in 2022. She is a single mum with a young son. “I feel like all my experiences as a woman, a nurse and a mum are making me a better person. Regardless of our beliefs, visa status, culture or skin, you and I are the same. We are here to do good - we should stand together.”

How do you build a path into tertiary education and good employment for asylum seeking students? Faced with seemingly insurmountable bureaucratic barriers and practical difficulties, Sally assembled a small team. Together they knocked on every door, looking for the right individuals - in business, in government departments, in education and in the community - who understood the issues and who would be willing to think and act laterally. The outcome changed lives…

Denes is Sri Lankan and arrived in Australia by boat when he was eighteen. “I left home because I could not live without danger. I came here for the safety of my life.” He is an outstanding cook and quietly supports many people in his community. At times the memories of the boat journey, an injury at work, the uncertainty of his visa and the isolation from the family he left behind become too much. “I just turn on the shower and cry - the water sort of washes the pain away.” He decided to use his own experience to help others - he has recently graduated as a nurse and is working in regional Victoria.

Sally’s work has been important to many of the young asylum seekers in this book. And those interactions have changed her. “Those moments are still vivid in my mind, and I hold them with affection: those times of insight, the shifts in perspective, and the freedom of thought that is possible in an open, supportive learning environment. They demanded, from all of us, that we think critically and generously.” In this chapter, Sally reflects on the importance of authentic relationships which go beyond the usual professional boundaries, and what that can mean in the life of a young person seeking asylum.

Hope Co-Op is owned by asylum seekers for asylum seekers. It had its origins in the diverse but close-knit student group at St Joseph’s. “When we graduated, every one of us started a new life, but we missed the sense of support and community we had found. After finishing our VCAL, many of us stayed in contact. We organised community gatherings every week. These evenings were about enjoying a meal together, telling stories, listening to stories and supporting each other - that was our main goal.” Aamir explains in more detail…

“I was speaking at a refugee rally. At the time, I was the secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union. A teacher spoke to me and said that they had a problem at a school in North Melbourne - they had students who were completing their studies but had nowhere to go afterwards. This seemed like a great waste.” And so began Colin’s long and productive involvement with Hope Co-Op…

Sally reflects on the transition from her work in a classroom to the formation of Hope Co-Op. “We had become a community of sorts, with connections which extended well beyond St Joseph’s. We were informally starting to build our own ship - holding community dinners and meeting once a week for an after school open-house in West Melbourne. There was great potential for doing further worthwhile work, so we started thinking about a way forward…”

Maria is a Rohingya woman. Stripped of citizenship in Myanmar, she moved to Malaysia with her new husband. They hoped to return but with escalating religious conflict, there was no safety in going back home. They started a family and she now lives in Melbourne with her husband and five daughters. She has not seen the rest of her family for fourteen years. Maria is currently working as an accountant. “My priority in life is my children. I teach them to be kind - to me it is the most important thing in life.”

Mel brings an irrepressible sense of humour to everything. In this chapter she focuses on Melbourne culture vs the community life she remembers in the markets and churches of her home town. She also takes aim at the instances of casual racism she notices as she travels around Melbourne. For her, music has been the bridge between home and here. She currently works for a large finance company. “My two biggest wishes are that I get permanent residency and that I complete my studies. I’m not quite there yet…”

After Asma’s father died from cancer, her Mum decided to leave Afghanistan. It was not a safe place for a mother and two teenage girls. “High school in Australia was a shock. A dream come true, but a struggle - we had to study day and night.” Asma is currently completing her Bachelor of Science at Monash. She feels desperately sad for the young women in her home country after the return of the Taliban in 2021. “Their dreams of having an education, and working with men as equals are all shattered…”