For Yazidi refugee, Hasan Saffuk, the journey from Sinjar, northern Iraq, to the University of New England in Armidale, Australia was long, demanding and dangerous. It was also unplanned.
Hasan graduated with a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Zakho in Kurdistan Iraq in 2014, but instead of starting a new career, he and his family, who are part of an ethnic group persecuted for their religion, had to flee for their lives when war with ISIS broke out.
They escaped to Turkey where they were housed in a vast tent city with other Yazidi refugees. Hasan spent four years there, working doggedly to bring the plight of the displaced families to the world’s attention.
“Most of the refugees cannot speak or write English. My friends and I wrote letters on their behalf to many embassies of some countries in Turkey asking for asylum,” Hasan said.
“We helped them to translate their identity documents from Arabic into English, to complete and copy the official forms before submitting it for processing. It took a long time to do. It was very hard work.”
Hasan and his two friends assisted over 400 families before he was notified that Australia has granted him refugee status and that he will be resettled in Armidale. By this time, his parents and some of his siblings, were relocated to Germany.
Upon arriving in Armidale late last year, Hasan met Dr Sarbast Qassim, a technical officer with the School of Environment and Rural Science (ERS), who had been doing vital support work with Yazidi refugees in the community.
“I knew I had to improve my English if I wanted to build a future for myself and my family in my new country, Australia, but wasn’t sure how to go about it,” Hasan said.
With Sarbast’s help, Hasan secured a scholarship from UNE to enrol in in an English language course with the English Language Centre (ELC).
The scholarship is an initiative of Pro Vice-Chancellor External Relations, Mingan Choct, who has had a number of meetings with Refugee Resettlement Services in Armidale, which had resulted in UNE’s hands-on support for the local Yazidi community,
“We realise how difficult it must be to resettle in a new country when you escape with nothing, and wanted to help the Armidale Yazidi community where we could. One of the things we did was to establish an English Language scholarship exclusive to Yazidi’s to help them improve their English language skills. Hasan is the first recipient of this scholarship,” Professor Choct said.
“Once he completes the Level 3 course, he’ll be able to enrol for further study if he wants to. Or help other Yazidi refugees in the community. It will also benefit him in his work as a laboratory technician at UNE.”
However, future study is not on Hasan’s immediate list of priorities.
“After I finish my English language exam, I want to take a short break and concentrate on my new job before enrolling in a Master’s degree,” Hasan said.
“I also want to spend time with my family. As a refugee there were long periods of time when I didn’t see them as it was not safe to travel. I want to make up for that.”
Prof. Choct and Sarbast are now working on other initiatives to help the refugees, including collecting good quality secondhand computers from across the University, which will be formatted and donated to the Yazidi community and facilitating contact with potential employers.
