TRANSCRIPT
Just behind Swan Hill's Uniting Church, there's a place for newly-arrived migrants to come together. Once a week, they share experiences over a meal, and learn more about the country they now call home.
Sami Fox came to Swan Hill from Morocco, and now works as a case worker for the Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council. She's organised for this gathering to focus on bushfire preparedness.
“I think just really the education and keep re-enforcing that message, that will help. Keeping them in an environment where they feel comfortable and safe, for example like here, you can see it's just like a family, and we talk about it properly, and you don't have to have a professional interpreter, but we have people that are really good, can speak the language and can actually interpret. So you can ask all those questions that you sometimes can't ask.”
The Country Fire Authority is making an important visit, providing in-language flyers about bushfire preparedness. Sharing his expertise with the group is Hazara refugee Rohullah Hussaini. He's been a Swan Hill local for the last 11 years. For most of that time, he's volunteered with the town's SES branch.
Last year, he assisted nearby communities through devastating floods. Now, he's helping prepare migrants for any future disasters.
“I would like to make sure in any emergency situation, they are safe, including other community members. To speak in their own language which is Afghan language - a couple of different Afghan languages - any time I'm going to talk to them about any emergency, definitely every time they're very happy and grateful.”
Despite his contribution to the community, he's only just been granted permanent protection.
“With all this limbo life I've been through in these 11 years, waiting to get a piece of paper, a permanent visa... you know, a limbo life. I swear to God, if I didn't have the SES around me, I might not be here right now, standing here and talking to you guys.”
A decade ago there were nearly 60,000 volunteers with the CFA in Victoria. That figure has fallen to less than 53,000 in the last season.
Here in Swan Hill where more than a quarter of the population was born overseas, it’s the newest Australians who are lending a helping hand during times of emergency.
The regional city's mayor is Les McPhee.
“Yeah look, you're right in what you're saying. Volunteering right across Australia is starting to decrease, becoming an aged group of volunteers. But with multiculturalism, the people coming in, it's very important to get involved, and it's a great way for them to get involved in the community.”
Swan Hill's firefighting authority says prolonged rainfall has created a higher fuel load, which spells greater fire risk with hotter, drier conditions.
One evening a week, it's training night at Swan Hill's CFA station. Volunteer firefighter Anton Fernando is among 15 Sri Lankan families in town.
“We have little fires but not bigger like here, and they never had an experience like this here, (seeing) how big and how bad it is, even the flood events.”
The town also has a strong Fijian community. Josateki Vunimasi is one of those community members, who earns a living working in a local abbatoir.
“Under the visa that I come from, I have to just go for one work, and it was boring for me to come back from work, staying home, with nothing to do. So I'd rather put myself out there, coming to help the community like we did back home in Fiji. You always help each other in the community.”
The Swan Hill Fire Brigade's acting captain, Harold Jochs, says it's been a thrill to see the volunteers reflecting multicultural Australia.
“A lot of the volunteering places are very stereotyped, with the people that are in them, and I think breaking down those barriers and having people like Jo and Anton, bringing their culture and beliefs, and intermingling it with our brigade, I think is absolutely fantastic.”
When he's not volunteering, Rohullah spends time calling loved ones overseas. After more than 11 years, Rohullah, his wife and young daughter are still waiting to be reunited. The volunteers might be his second family, but without his first, he's not truly at home.
