New Humans of Australia: Parisa

I have always loved books. When I was younger, my father had a big library in our home, and now in Australia, my favourite thing to do is to spend time in the library. Back home in Iran, my mother is holding onto all my books for me. 

I was born in the city of Rasht, one of the largest cities in Iran, in 1983. I was the middle child, with two older sisters and one younger brother. My early years in Iran were always surrounded by family, lots of cousins, aunties and uncles. 

My mum was a homemaker and my father had his own business. He died when I was 19. I always remember him in his library, surrounded by books. As kids, we would all play with his books, and sometimes get them a little grubby or ripped, but he didn’t care, he just wanted to introduce a love of reading to us. Books are still my sanctuary today. 

I went to a local primary school and high school, and I loved studying history, especially the history of Iran. We had two little bunnies growing up, Whitey and Sweetie. 

After school, I went to the University of Payam-e Noor and studied a Bachelor of General Psychology and then a Masters at the Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch.

I started working with children, specialising in kids aged 5-17 who presented with autism or ADHD. I saw children with lots of different challenges, but I gave each of them the tools to reach their own goals. I loved this work, it was so rewarding, and I did it for 15 years.  

In Iran, I became renowned as an industry expert for children with special needs and created videos that were distributed amongst others in the profession.

I remember one child, a boy, who had autism. His other teachers had given up on him, they said that he was too difficult to help. But I could see that he just needed the right kind of support. I saw his potential, and I committed to uplifting him. When I first saw him, he was nine and he felt no sense of hope. But I could see he was a brilliant mathematician, over and above any other child in the school and I worked with him. Today he is in university, and we still keep in touch. Every child that I worked with just needed someone to believe in them, someone to see what they could be and give them the right kind of support. 

A few years ago, my uncle introduced me to an Iranian man living in Australia. We fell in love and married a few months later. I spent a year planning my move to Australia. Although I had a wonderful job and a beautiful family in Iran, I was prepared to move for love. 

It took me three and a half years to move to Australia. I moved to Australia on January 20, 2023. Within three weeks, it was clear something was wrong, and my husband left me in brutal circumstances. It was devastating. He took advantage of my limited knowledge of Australian laws and tried to evict me from my home. I had only been here three weeks, and I had no friends, no family, and no job. But I held my head high, and I remembered everything my mother had taught me to stay strong. I refused to leave my house until I found work. 

I felt totally lost. I’d left everything behind and now I had no support network. I spoke to an lady in the Iranian community and told her of my challenges. She was a language teacher, and introduced me to Navitas and the AMEP. I walked into Navitas Skilled Futures Fairfield in a bit of a daze, not sure what I’d find. One of the staff found me there and helped me to find my confidence – through the AMEP I found comfort, and I found hope. I started studying a childcare course, and within a few months I had a job in a childcare centre in the northern suburbs of Sydney. I moved out and got my own place. It has been over a year now, and I feel strong, I feel confident and I feel hopeful for my future.

My mother is my best friend, and I still speak to her every single day. She was the first person I spoke to when my marriage ended, and she is my source of strength. I was very lucky to have been brought up in a home where my parents believed in us and taught us that we could do anything we put our minds to. It has created an inner strength which I really needed during this difficult time. 

What do I want for my future? I want to have my skills and qualifications recognised here, and I want to open up my own childcare centre for kids with special needs. I want to be able to support children across the world to have a good life, a life of their choosing. I want freedom, for all these children, and for myself. These kids just need someone to believe in them, and I can be that person.  

In Iran, I taught a boy with a hand disability how to write, when all the other teachers had told him he couldn’t. But he could, and he did. Yes, I’m aiming high, but I know I can do it, because my heart is my guide. 

Parisa 

Iran 

Arrived July 2023