TRANSCRIPT
Workers are tiling the floor of a new home in Sydney’s west. Cutting the tiles is a precise task, and trainee Mujtaba Folad is hands-on. The qualified engineer was forced to flee Afghanistan earlier this year.
“Because Afghanistan, my living in Afghanistan, very dangerous. After I were working in the road, but the Afghanistan is controlled by Taliban. All of project stopped.”
The 25-year-old is among dozens of refugees hired and trained in Australia by CommUnity Construction. The social enterprise is run by a fellow Afghan refugee and entrepreneur, Hedayat Osyan.
“I'm very happy. Hedayat is very good man, in helping other people. Because Afghanistan people can not get work.”
Mr Osyan started the business almost seven years ago, to support refugees arriving in Australia with limited English language skills.
“English language is the biggest barrier. So when we don't speak English, it just automatically close all the opportunity for us. Most of them they're Afghan because I'm an Afghan, we have people from Iran, from Pakistan, from Syria, from Iraq. I had a couple of Sudanese. So it's very diverse. When the refugee come to Australia, their qualification, qualification is not recognized and that's why they have to start from very scratch.”
Some refugees who’ve fled war zones or persecution, face other challenges, too, he says.
“They are very traumatized. So, we give them a very safe space where they can flourish, be where they can feel belonging and also where they can contribute to society and also support their families.”
Mr Osyan is Hazara, among the most persecuted groups in Afghanistan. Although now in his early 30’s, Mr Oysan can’t be precise because records weren’t kept when he was born, around 1992, in a mountain district in central Afghanistan.
“My world was very small because we had no access to electricity, to no power, to no tv. I had my own farm. I was from a middle-class family. It was a beautiful place, very greenery. We had exactly four season. I had a very peaceful life when I was younger.”
But he says that peace was disrupted forever, when his father disappeared.
“In 2006 when the Taliban regrouping in our area, so they are attacking my village very often, and my father was a high school teacher. He was traveling from my village to go to the cities to bring some books for the local school and he was kidnapped by the Taliban on that year, and he disappeared from that time.”
My Osyan took over as head of the household supporting his mother and two younger siblings. Then in 2009, the Taliban attacked again and as a 17-year-old, he was forced to flee.
“I went to Kabul to find some way to leave Afghanistan and I found the people of smuggler and then he just took me from that moment. So, I had no identity, I had no power for my destination. “
Mr Osyan says he paid almost 5-thousand Australian dollars to fly from Kabul to Dubai, and then Malaysia, and later travelled by boat to Indonesia where he was detained by local authorities.
“I was arrested by the Indonesian police because I had no legal document. And it was around 50 people on that jail, very small room. And they gave us only one portion of food every day. “
He finally escaped only to find himself stuck in the capital Jakarta. Mr Osyan then decided to strike out for Australia.
“I have to take the boat journey, because I have two small sibling and my mom who is left behind in Afghanistan, which is a very dangerous. And also I was living in underground in Indonesia. I had no legal documents. One of my friend, he was my roommate, he left Indonesia just one month before I left. And he was disappeared in the water with other 65 people. And I knew that that's going to happen to me, but I had no option. When we reached international water after nine days and the Australian Navy came and they rescue us and they took to Christmas Island Detention Centre. I was there for about two months and then they transferred me to Melbourne Detention Centre. It took about three and a half months when I did my all interview with the Department of Home Affairs. And finally, I got my permanent resident.”
Just nine months after fleeing his home in Afghanistan, Mr Osyan was free - but facing an uncertain future in Melbourne. Never one to sit around, the 18-year-old got busy building a new life.
“I studied politics and international relation, my bachelor degree. And then I did my honours degree in art and designs. When I finished my honours degree in 2016, I received an offer to do my PhD at the same university in Canberra. And I was very excited because imagine a Hazara boy who came to Australia and had that opportunity to do the PhD - and that was my dream”
That dream is on hold for now while he grows Community Corporate, creating work for others like himself.
“I'm very proud that now I'm in a position which I can help the rest of my community, those who are left behind, those who wants to contribute. I provide a safe platform for them where they can flourish, where they can support their families, where they can contribute to Australia.”
And he is not alone – businesses that give back are growing rapidly, according to Australia's certifier of social enterprises Social Traders. CEO Tara Anderson explains.
“Since Covid the pandemic started, we've had 110 new social enterprises open their doors. Year on year growth, we're seeing a 6% increase in the number of people employed by social enterprises. We're seeing a 32% increase in the revenue that they're generating and we're seeing an overall increase in the impact they're creating. And this is the important stat, 78% of social enterprises are increasing their investment into environmental and social outcomes.”
In fact, Australia’s 12,000 social enterprises employ more than 200-thousand people. In the recently released Employment white paper, the Federal Government committed to back social enterprises. Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says this will help tackle entrenched disadvantage and boost employment opportunities for many disadvantaged groups including refugees and asylum seekers. It’s a move welcomed by Ms Anderson.
“We're calling on the federal government to create a national social procurement framework that prioritizes social enterprises in business and government supply chains, to unlock demand for social enterprise.”
With around 20-thousand Australian humanitarian visas to be issued this year, and growing global displacement, Mr Osyan hopes to hire more refugees and help some start their own businesses.
“Refugees, they are very resilient. They're very hard worker, they're very motivated. I want to expand my business nationally in Australia. And also I want to add more services in order to have more refugee on board. Imagine in the next five years I have my own businesses in different cities, major city in Australia, and I contract from a medium to big project and then I can hire hundreds and hundreds of refugees. “
