A life he was never meant to live

Driving over Punt Road on a Tuesday night, Safir* turns on his device and waits for his first job. This is his third night working as an UberEATS driver.  The pay is good and he can work anytime between 8am and 12am on the days he chooses. The flexible hours mean that Safir can still attend appointments at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Dandenong, where he sees an employment advisor.

The first job of the night is Melbourne cult favorite Jimmy Grants. Souvlakis, fetta chips and gourmet salads will be delivered to surrounding inner city suburbs. The novelty of ordering takeaway from Melbourne’s top restaurants with the click of a button has seen the food delivery service take off. Safir’s 2003 car is okay for UberEATS, but he hopes to save enough to buy a newer model, so he can one day take passengers. He is focused on this short-term goal and has already completed over 50 jobs.

Four weeks ago Safir was making a very different drive to regional hospital. After countless applications he had been invited to an interview. Trying not to crumple the sleeves of the suit his friend helped organise, he followed carefully researched directions. A printed copy of his resume was on the passenger seat. The last year was confined to three short bullet points: delivery driver, factory hand, hazelnut farming preparation – various employers. Below was the story of a man with nearly ten years’ experience working as a medical professional in Pakistan.

The first person in his province to become a technician in his field, Safir had been eagerly sought in the expertise. From 2009 – 2013 he was a senior medical professional in his home country, but because of this he received death threats from terrorist groups. He ignored them for a while but on one occasion, several of his colleagues at his hospital were killed on their way home from work.

The situation was not good, the killing that were happening there, every day 15-16 people were killed. Targeting professionals, mostly doctors. My wife was very scared…No one has been arrested; now we know that they belong to ISIS.

Despite years of study and working multiple jobs over sixteen hour days, Safir was forced to leave not only his profession, but also his family. Now in Melbourne, he is living a life he was never meant to live.

He speaks to his wife and their two sons every day on Skype. His wife can access his email and they use social media. Two weeks ago Safir’s wife opened an email with the outcome of his application to the hospital in Victoria; unfortunately in this case he was not successful. She told him not to give up hope and not to be upset. For now, he is working hard to save money for his family and to buy a new car so that he can be an Uber driver and take passengers. It’s a step up from Uber Eats, at least until his visa expires at the end of this year. And then he doesn’t know where he will be.

*The alias of the person who bravely shared their story with us

There are thousands of people just like Safir who are working hard in a different profession because the qualifications from their home countries are not recognised in Australia. The employment program at the ASRC are working hard to build pathways to employment that make the best use of their transferrable skills and ensure they gain professional networks and mentors that can support their transition to the Australian workforce. Our employment partnerships arm support people seeking asylum to gain sustainable employment with engaged employers while our Vocational Education Training (VET) program supports people seeking asylum to gain Australian qualifications in their chosen profession.

Help the ASRC empower more people like Safir gain the confidence and skills to rebuild their lives in Australia donating today.

A donation of just $10 can give 4 weeks employment training and assistance to a person seeking asylum.