Amid the coronavirus pandemic, families across Australia have experienced changes to their daily lives, especially those with young children or members working on the hospital front lines.
This Iraqi refugee family has both.
Hussein Al Abbasi is an emergency doctor at Central Coast Hospital, in NSW.
While he works in the fight against coronavirus, his wife Iman Al Bayati takes care of their four-year-old daughter Tiema and also runs the family home in Sydney, an hour's drive from the Central Coast.
It is Ms Al Bayati who gets credit from her husband as the "hero" who navigates the family’s way through the crisis.
Ms Al Bayati with her husband Dr Hussein Al Abbasi Source: Supplied
“It was a very hard time, for two years, the whole family’s focus was to finish this phase," she said.
In 2016, he got his first job in Australia at Central Coast Hospital, which forced the family to relocate from Melbourne to Sydney.
Ms Al Bayati said her husband working more than an hour away has added extra pressure on her.
“My husband works in another city so he is not there a lot of the time, and this put more burden on me because I would be at the house with our daughter for long times.”
Ms Al Bayati, a writer by trade, said she became concerned for her child as soon as news of the virus began to spread.
“We stopped sending our daughter to the preschool and we had to start taking measures to ensure the safety of our family,” she said.
At the same time, her husband began treating coronavirus cases in the hospital.
Dr. Hussein Al Abbasi at the hospital Source: Supplied
“I became more aware of cleaning and disinfecting when he returns home, he leaves his shoes outside, we disinfect them, then we wash his clothes alone at a certain temperature and for a certain time,” she said.
She even took an online course to improve her knowledge of the virus and how it spreads.
“I wanted to base my approach on scientific grounds as a wife and a mother, not from news and social media.”
She also began providing her daughter with the lessons that she would normally get at preschool.
“We tried to make a safe and fun environment for our daughter, especially as kids at this age get bored quite quickly and want to be in the company of other kids.
“We bought some toys, and we made some, like the swing we built with wood and we decorated it with flowers, so we can provide our daughter with entertainment.”
She said the concern for her husband and daughter took a toll.
“It was mainly a pressure on my nerves more than anything else.
“My husband usually follows a strict guideline of protection during work, but he doubled up his awareness.
“The mental pressure became more, and the sense of responsibility got greater.”
In early May, her husband began showing mild symptoms of a cold.
“You know it is very similar to corona symptoms, we were really worried. He isolated himself and went for a test but thank god the results came back negative.”
As their relatives and extended family members remain in Iraq, the family has surrounded itself with people they call their “really good friends”.
“We were lucky,” she said.
“During coronavirus, we kept in touch but online, they realise the importance of social distance and me too, even the main events and memories, like birthdays, we would keep in touch through cards and gifts that we send through the post.”
