When Shiroqe Majid Talo Ali was a child, her friends called her Doctor Shiroque.
“It was my dream to be a doctor in Iraq,” she says.
Instead, along with thousands of Ezidis, she was forced to flee her home to escape the Islamic State genocide in northern Iraq. A decade on, Ali, now 21, is studying nursing in Armidale, New South Wales. She and her family are among 650 Ezidis to have resettled in the New England city between 2018 and 2022.
“When I came here, I started – step by step – to work on my dream,” she says.
Ezidis are one of the oldest ethnic and religious minorities of Iraq and Syria. Hundreds were massacred or enslaved during attacks in the Sinjar region in 2014 and an estimated 40,000 fled to nearby Mount Sinjar, where they were encircled by the jihadists and left without food and water. More than 100,000 people were forced from the region, igniting global calls for asylum.
Shiroqe Majid Talo Ali at volleyball practice at SportUNE, Armidale. When she came to Australia, she says, ‘I started, step by step, to work on my dream’
Ali plays volleyball, and her team recently won a local tournament. She hopes to be working in the hospital system within five years, training in surgical nursing before transferring to become a specialist.
“Australia is much different to Iraq,” she says. “We can achieve … what’s in our mind, but it will take time.”
Salwan Muhi, 25, says it took three years of English language training until he didn’t require an interpreter. Now, he’s employed by the Armidale branch of the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors, assisting older Ezidis.
“I help them with translating, showing them the government apps,” he says.
Salwan Muhi says he feels Armidale will always be his home. ‘I’m Armidaleian’
According to Muhi, many Ezidis live with the trauma of the genocide. “They don’t talk to people much. They don’t enjoy life,” he says. “We help them to participate.”
Muhi says his work has made a positive difference. “We just discharged some of them from the program because we saw they could drive, they could work, some had their own business. They could be completely on their own doing their own stuff.”
Muhi has always wanted to teach and is volunteering at a local primary school while he undertakes a certificate in education support. Eventually, he wants to study primary teaching, which may take him to a bigger city.
Yet he feels Armidale will always be his home. “I’m Armidaleian,” he says.
Pride of place: at the University of New England’s Culture Fest, Armidale
Peter Lloyd, of Armidale Rotary club, says the town’s friendly reputation underpinned the community’s push to have asylum seekers resettled there.
“We have international students at the university, so there is a natural wish to help people who are new to the country,” he says.
Rotarian Peter Lloyd: ‘The huge benefit of having international people here are the three food stores in town. We’ve now got access to Middle Eastern food’
Once the Rotary club learned many of the Ezidis were from agricultural backgrounds, they developed a plan to collaborate on a horticultural project, with members volunteering the land.
“The very first time we went out to the property, an old Ezidi gentleman picked up a handful of soil, and we said: ‘Yep, he’s a farmer, and he knew what he was doing,’” Lloyd says. “In fact, this particular gentleman managed a property of 40 acres of tomatoes. That’s huge in anybody’s language.”
Facilitated by Northern Settlement Services, the Regional Employment Agriculture Project has grown tomatoes, capsicums, melons, broad beans and more on two four-hectare [10-acre] plots near Armidale with council and state assistance. Federal funds were recently secured to sustain the initiative.
Early harvests were so abundant the project was expanded to assist Ezidis sell the produce at local markets.
Above: Marking the price of tomatoes at Armidale’s markets
Below: Ezidi men wander through the community vegetable garden
“That’s been hugely successful, because the language barrier has decreased … that’s been a big plus,” Lloyd says.
University of New England (UNE) surveys on community sentiment towards Ezidis reported this year that respondents in Armidale had progressively embraced the resettlement program.
Yamamah Agah of Settlement Services International (SSI) says the organisation sought ways for new arrivals and the community to have meaningful engagement.
“Ezidi refugees reside all over Armidale, so over the five years, more Armidale locals have had personal experiences with refugees, which helps to humanise them and see that behind the labels are real people and families with the same dreams and aspirations,” she says.
Lloyd agrees that SSI’s approach allowed sustainable community relationships to develop.
“People sharing recipes, sharing vegetables, sharing ideas and helping with English,” he says. “The huge benefit of having international people here are the three food stores in town. We’ve now got access to Middle Eastern food.”
Among the first Ezidis resettled in Armidale in 2018 were mechanic Haji Jarullah Khalaf, 43, and his wife, Fairuz, 34. They recently bought a house and invited Guardian Australia for a family lunch in the yard they’re renovating into a shaded terrace.
Haji Jarullah Khalef and Fairuz Khalef in their backyard. They hope to establish a farm outside Armidale and run livestock
Left: The Khalef family Right: Their homemade Middle Eastern feast
Seated before a smorgasbord of biryani, dumplings, dolmades, stuffed capsicums and potatoes, barbecued chicken and beef, and homemade naan, Khalaf says the terrace will emulate the way Ezidis have traditionally gardened, with grapevines on pergolas and rows of fruit trees.
The Khalafs hope to establish a farm outside Armidale, where they plan to run livestock.
Lina Rasho Hadi Almuhama, 20, arrived in Armidale in 2019. She works two jobs while studying science at UNE, with a plan to transfer to pharmacy.
Lina Rasho Hadi Almuhama wants to open a pharmacy in her late father’s name
Her father, Rasho, had his own pharmacy in Sinjar before he was killed in the genocide.
“I was planning to open his pharmacy when I was in Iraq, but when I arrived here, I decided to finish pharmacy and then if I get a chance, just open my own pharmacy in his name,” she says. “I need to learn English perfectly first, and then keep studying.”
Ezidi community members at a smoking ceremony during a traditional welcome to country at UNE’s Culture Fest
Almuhama says she would like to be a local pharmacist. “If they don’t want any more pharmacists here in Armidale, I can go live in another town – just follow my goals, wherever it is.
“Maybe I will achieve great things, not just as a pharmacist.”
