Derar: My journey from Syria to Australia

Derar and his son attending an Iress ‘bring your child to work’ event in Sydney, Australia.

Imagine you are an engineer, nurse, physiotherapist - or any other skilled person - and you have been forced to leave your country and live as a refugee in a different one.

This could be fine if the country you move to gives you the right to work freely and legally - but it’s unbearable if you are not allowed to do what you love; not allowed to use your skills and passion to get ahead in life; not allowed to be a productive person in society.

That is exactly what happened to me, and it happens every day to many more people like me.

I am a software engineer, born in Syria to a medium-sized family of two parents and six siblings. I was raised in Damascus (the capital city) and moved to Daraa (where my parents are from) when I was 17 years old. My father worked hard to secure a good life for me and my siblings, and enrolled us at the best universities. My mother was a wise woman who was able to raise six children, and instil good morals in us.

I graduated from university in 2008 and, like many graduates, I had big dreams. I saw the future as wide open and full of opportunities. I was eager to fulfill my aspirations. My career progressed, and saw me working as a web developer, technical assistant, programming language teacher and a few other jobs. I never thought of traveling outside my country for work. I started working on my dream to build my own business.

But two years later, the war in Syria began and everything started to crumble - my company, my house, my plans for my family, and many more basic things began to fade. This didn’t happen just to me, but to my parents and siblings as well. After realizing the difficult situation and continuing the anxiety we were living in, we decided to leave our country and flee to Jordan.

But being refugees was not something we were used to. For many years we were accepting of refugees from all over the world. We never thought that we would one day be in the same position.

Over the next six years in Jordan, I faced many challenges. With limited income opportunities, life was really tough - but I would say our difficult financial situation wasn’t even the worst part. Sometimes you feel that you are nothing - you live without a goal; without purpose.

After a while I worried I was forgetting all my skills and losing my professional experience. I was looking for work, but did not succeed in getting any. The only thing that was available to me was volunteering, so I started working as a volunteer. I was not used to this type of work - but I loved it so much as it helped free me of negative energy while helping others. Still, it couldn’t help me financially or improve my qualifications. Sometimes I felt frustrated because I saw people who were less competent than me working full-time where I wasn’t allowed to.

This sense of weakness and lack of self-realization lasted years - until I heard about Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) on Facebook. I registered in their Talent Catalog and one week later they contacted me to arrange an introduction interview. They told me about their vision and how they are working on providing international jobs for skilled refugees. It seemed like a brilliant idea to me, since I have always thought that supporting refugees with cash assistance (like many NGOs do) is not a sustainable solution because no one can support you financially forever.

TBB informed me of a job opportunity working as a software engineer for a leading financial company in Australia called Iress. A few days later, we started preparing for the interview process: mock interviews, refining my CV, and much more was facilitated by TBB staff to put me on the track for the Iress interview. I completed the interview, and waited for the result.

I still remember the day that TBB called me and told me that I had a job offer. It was a wonderful moment and I was very excited. It renewed my hope and brought me back to the memories of post-graduation and the dreams that I was hoping to achieve.

In December 2018, my visa was approved. In mid February 2019, I traveled to Sydney, Australia, with my family, leaving behind a mixture of beautiful and unhappy memories and farewelling my family in the hope of meeting again.

I arrived at Sydney Airport to find a group of people (from TBB, Refugee Talent, and Iress) all waiting to welcome me - most of whom I had never met in my life! That was the first moment of happiness that overwhelmed me in Australia.

Now, I've been in Australia for a year and four months. I work for Iress which is an awesome company where I have been learning about teamwork, collaboration and helping others. I've learned how I can give without expecting something in return. My life has totally changed. I have new goals for my family and my career I'm trying to achieve. This would not have happened without the help of TBB and Iress. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to bringing me here and making my life better.

Today is World Refugee Day. This year’s theme is ‘Every Action Counts’ - no matter who you are or where you come from, everyone of us can make a difference by encouraging people to think of refugees as valuable people with skills to share; as assets, not burdens to our society.