mmg.com.au

When Eman Alabbassi arrived in Australia in 2002, she carried a dictionary everywhere so she could look up the English words she didn’t understand.

Now Eman relies on her iPhone for words she is unsure about and her English has become so good she helps non-English speaking Iraqis to communicate.

After 10 years of English study and having completed a TAFE course in IT, Eman is the multicultural support worker at Uniting Care Cutting Edge in Cobram. The qualified science teacher has also worked with Cobram Primary School and Cobram Secondary College to help newly arrived students, translate newsletters and help facilitate parent teacher interviews with Arabic-speakers.

In 2010, she helped establish Arabic classes for Year 11 and 12 students through the Victorian School of Languages — a program which is still running successfully at Cobram Secondary College.

When Eman moved to Cobram in 2004, she said she ‘‘couldn’t just stay at home and do nothing’’.

‘‘In the beginning I volunteered, helping women translate with a specialist female doctor or helping them fill in application forms. They would call me and I would go straight away,’’ she said.

But Eman says Iraqi women were becoming more aware of the importance of learning English.

‘‘I want to tell all the women here to think about studying seriously to add to their knowledge and contribute to life here in Cobram and beyond,’’ she said.

‘‘In Australia we have found a new home and humanity. It’s a safer place here and we need to study and we need to work to give something back to this country.’’

Eman’s husband arrived in Australia in 1999 and the mother of three escaped war-torn Iraq with her children soon after in 2001, crossing into Jordan before flying to Malaysia and travelling to Indonesia and Australia by boat.

‘‘It was so scary with the three little children in a very dirty old boat with no food and cockroaches everywhere,’’ she said.

‘‘We were scared of the ocean and pirates and the waves which were higher than my house.

‘‘We stayed crouched up in that boat for two weeks, not knowing any moment if we were going to die. It was a miracle that we made it to land.’’

After arriving at Ashmore Reef, Eman and her children spent four-and-a-half months at Woomera detention centre in South Australia before being granted temporary visas and living near Adelaide for two years. The family moved to Cobram in 2004 to be close to relatives and Eman was granted Australian citizenship in 2007.

‘‘After all this struggle and all these hard times, it was worth it. I feel more proud when I go around with my Australian passport, I feel more respect,’’ she said.

Eman’s eldest son is going to La Trobe University to study science this year, while her daughter is in Year 12 and her youngest son is starting Year 10.

‘‘I encourage my children to have a better education to give back to this country what it gave us. Sometimes my kids ask me why I am learning English and they get upset because I can understand when they are telling secrets,’’ Eman said with a laugh.