Twenty years ago, when Zuhra Dastyar arrived in Australia from war-torn Afghanistan, she had many concerns.
“I was worried about settling here as well as how to help our family back home,” she said.
And while there were many questions in Zuhra’s mind, there were few answers.
“I don’t think we had a lot of support [groups] at that time,” she said.
Called ‘Witness to War’, the free NSW-based phone service (1800 845 198) operates from Monday to Friday, 9am-4pm, and employs about 10 bicultural workers who offer support to distressed people in eight different languages – Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Hazaragi, Kurdish (Sorani), Pashto, Ukrainian and Urdu.
As one of the bicultural workers, Zuhra is at the forefront of the State Government funded initiative.
“When I arrived in Australia, I wasn’t comfortable enough to talk about my concerns because I thought it was just me,” she said.
“But now when I look at it, I feel everybody goes through the same kind of uncertainties when you move to a new country.”
Assisting about a dozen new migrants a day, Zuhra says it takes a lot of courage to ask for help.
“It’s lovely to get people started on their healing journey,” she said.
‘Witness to War’ guiding refugees
IN an Australian first, the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) has launched a multilingual telephone helpline in Auburn for people impacted by overseas conflicts.