Now supported by the Western Sydney Community Centre at Auburn, the 22-year-old’s parents Amira and Saleh, younger brother Baraa, 16, and sister Jumana, 20, were forced to flee their home with bombing constantly overhead, taking shelter wherever they could and sometimes surviving on dirty water and eating grass.
Arriving in Australia in May, they were relieved to leave the war zone behind them after being accepted here on Temporary (tourist) Visas, however a new nightmare was just beginning.
Unable to access Medicare, Centrelink or work, the family must rely on grocery handouts from relatives and the Red Cross while they wait for Bridging Visas to come through.
With five of them living in a room of the office where their uncle works, Tarek says not being able to work and find accommodation, is frustrating.
“It’s been a month since we applied for the visas and can’t wait to work,” he said.
“At least we are safe but my parents still have injuries, many we know are dead; I just want to be able to provide for the family but our hands are tied.”
Shining a spotlight on the issue during Refugee Week (June 16-22), Auburn’s Western Sydney for Community social worker Ansar Kaffem has been advocating for the Harara family along with about 70 others, with more arriving every week.
“It’s been chaos trying to house them all and we don’t understand why other refugees like from Ukraine and Iraq were given humanitarian visas so they could work but the Gazans were not,” she said.
“They need to be able to work or at least access a benefit while looking for work; the current process is taking too long.”
