News

Vision Australia welcomes new Afghani volunteers

Mon, 21 May 2018 12:58:00

Two Afghani women who recently settled in Mildura are volunteering their time to help local people who are blind or have low vision.

Fatema Negah and Masoma Zakizada joined Vision Australia’s diverse team of volunteers earlier this year.
The women, who are working in administration, said volunteering allowed them to be active in the community, learn more about Australian culture and improve their English.
“Humanitarian work is very useful for people, especially people like us who are new to Australia and want to learn about the culture, how to communicate with other people and find a job,” Ms Zakizada said.
A practicing midwife in Afghanistan, Ms Zakizada had her own private clinic and taught medicine at a university.
Hoping to eventually find work as a midwife in Australia, she is also learning English at SuniTAFE with Ms Negah and updating her knowledge.
Ms Negah, who was studying engineering and architecture at university in Iran,
said adjusting to life somewhere new was challenging.
“Your confidence goes right down because you have to start again, and everything is different, everything is difficult,” she said.
“The biggest barrier is the language and the second one is a job.
“You need to have experience when you apply for work, but I don’t have that, so volunteering is a good place to start.”
Ms Negah said her English had improved and she had learned more about Australian people since starting at Vision Australia.
“The team is very welcoming and supportive, and they have helped me with so much since I arrived here,” she said.
“Lots of people in my culture don’t know about this place, so it’s a good idea for me to work here and learn more about what they do.
“We have people with disabilities too, so the information I have can help my own people.”
Vision Australia Mildura’s coordinator of volunteers Debra Pearce said the organisation could also learn a lot.
“Having people on board from different cultures and backgrounds means we can better reach into other communities,” Ms Pearce said.
“We can also understand why people might not be coming here – is it the language, is there something we’re not doing to meet their cultural needs, or do they just not know about us?”
Ms Pearce said Vision Australia also wanted to support people who were new to Mildura.
“When people have a desire to be involved in the community, it would be a real shame for them to not be given that opportunity,” she said.
“We see that as something really important we can do outside of helping people who are blind or have low vision.
“We’re very welcoming of people from all backgrounds and keen to make them part of our community.”
To learn more about volunteering at Vision Australia, contact Debra Pearce on 03 5023 9500.