Stepping off a lengthy international flight into an arrivals hall is a strange experience at the best of times.
For Shadi Al Daoud and Ramia Romhain, it was also the first time they set foot in their new home country.
The couple and their children, Elinor and George, fled their home in the Syrian city of Damascus and spent three years living displaced in northern Iraq.
"I am feeling nervousness, wonder and happiness. It's a complete mix of emotions," Ms Romhain said, speaking through an interpreter.
Mr Al Daoud left behind a career as an electronic engineer technician and Ms Romhain was forced to abandon her role as a support worker for children with autism.
They are among the first refugees to be granted permanent residency as part of the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP).
The program, coordinated by Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA), matches refugee families to a group of local volunteers, who spend 12 months helping them find their feet.
"Up until now we have welcomed refugees using professional settlement services, and they do a wonderful job," CSRA chief executive Lisa Button said.
"What's different about this is that the refugees arriving will have something resembling almost a family network or a group of extended friends who are personally very invested in their success."
The support began at the airport, with more than a dozen volunteers turning up to greet the new arrivals.
Shayne Davey has been leading a team of eight in Gosford on the Central Coast, where the Al Daoud-Romhain family will be settled.
"We'll be there really to help navigate all the various services, help them with enrolling the children into the local school, helping them find some long-term accommodation," she said.
"But the essence of all of this really is about us helping, supporting, welcoming, embracing and allowing them to have a feeling and a sense of belonging."
A second team of volunteers in Goulburn has been welcoming Mazin Alkhusi, Rouba Farrouh and their sons Elyas and George.
Ms Farrouh said having a group to meet her family at the airport had made her instantly calmer.
"Seeing you all here, I don't feel like a stranger. I feel like this is my country," she told her support group in the arrivals hall.
"I feel very happy that I'm going to be engaging with the community faster. It's going to make it easier for me to have a better life here, and be settled."
Goulburn volunteer Maggie Patterson said she was motivated to get involved in the CRISP program after experiencing her own crisis while travelling internationally.
"Our daughter became very ill and we relied on the friendship of strangers and the support of strangers. She was in the ICU for two months and she passed away," she said.
"And I always thought, if there's any way that I can pass on the goodness that was shown to me when I was vulnerable and my family were vulnerable, then that's exactly what we'll do."
Ms Button said more volunteers would be needed as the three-year pilot program ramped up.
"It's going to gather steam from now on," she said.
"Over the life of the program we're going to be welcoming around 1,500 refugees in family groups of varying sizes."
Federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said if successful, the pilot would be expanded and intake numbers for community sponsorship could rise to 5,000 a year.
That would be in addition to the 27,000 places the federal government has already promised.
"These are two fundamental underpinnings of a different approach, a more generous approach," Mr Giles said.
"We know we've got to do more as a country to play our part in supporting people in need of resettlement."
Ms Davey said taking action at a local level helped combat feelings of helplessness when confronted with the bigger picture.
"Sometimes it can feel quite overwhelming when we see what's happening worldwide … But at this level it's just something tangible," she said.
"As a community group, just a group of ordinary Australians, we can make a difference."
