Always feels at home in Hospital

Nursing at the core of her being, Inaam Jerjis, a mother of two and a
grandmother of three, had unyielding faith and courage to flee the
Iraq war and come to Australia, which she now calls home. She is
currently finding her way into nursing.

Fleeing the Iraq war

Leaving her parents and siblings behind, Inaam, now 55, had no choice but to flee the bloody war that was simmering in Iraq in 1989. With her husband and their two boys they sought refuge in Jordan. After retraining in nursing, which was her career in her home country, Inaam got a job as a nurse again in a private hospital in Amman, Jordan. ‘I worked as a nurse for over 10 years in Jordan until we left. The people I worked with were good people’. Despite having worked full time, the money was not enough to cover all living costs as well as medical expenses for her family. ‘I got another job to help out with the cost of living. It was very hard, but I kept going, kept going…’. The financial struggle she was experiencing in Jordan was compounded with marital problems. Inaam believed that her husband changed a lot after they arrived in Jordan. ‘He was getting difficult to live with’. She tried very hard to keep her 23 years of marriage but, in the end, she had to let him go. ‘Separating from my husband was the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my life’. She became depressed following the separation but could never contemplate returning to her home country. Inaam and her two children lived in Jordan for about 11 years, but Inaam never really felt at home within herself.

Immigration Visa to Australia

‘I saw a lot of bad things happen to people in Iraq because I worked in a hospital.
Many people were injured, and many died’

‘I always wanted to go to Australia. I never thought of any other country but Australia.’ When the war between Iraq & Kuwait ceased, Inaam could not let her sons join the army which was mandatory for boys. ‘All my life I grew up in wars. From 1980 -1988 there was also a war between Iran and Iraq. I feared for my family that was left behind. I saw a lot of bad things happen to people in Iraq because I worked in a hospital, in the emergency department. Many were injured and many died.’ In Iraq, 96% to 99% of people who join the army go to war. If they come back, they struggle to cope with normal life and many commit suicide or suffer severe mental health problems. For Inaam, leaving Iraq was the best decision she made in the hope of giving her children a safe and better future. Her visa application to Australia was refused four times, but ‘I had no other way but kept applying and the fourth time my application was approved, Thank God!’.

My Parish, My family

A staunch Catholic, Inaam visited a Parish a few months after she arrived in Melbourne, where she found her second home. ‘The church was a very safe place for me.’ I asked the parish priest how I could learn English. Inaam was guided to attend mass and the ‘Alpha Course’ which is run by the parish once a year for 10 weeks. Despite her lack of English, Inaam attended the course. ‘I sat in the corner because I was so scared, and people came to greet me and asked me questions in English. I could barely understand or answer some of the questions they asked me. When the video for the Alpha course was turned on, I left and ran because it was so hard for me to understand.’ The following week, Inaam went back to attend the course and from then on, she decided to learn English and to refrain from mixing with her compatriots so that she would practise English.

Inaam yearned to work so she could start a fresh good life in Australia, but she was exhausted, depressed, sad and had no English language. She continued attending mass at the Parish. ‘People were very friendly and welcoming. They would ask me how I was. This did not happen in churches in Jordan.’ She felt respected and heard at the parish. ‘Respect is very important for me.’ Inaam learnt a lot of her English language through the parish, and she is grateful to her parishioner friend who has been there for her ever since she joined the parish. ‘My good friend visits me regularly, cooks for me and spends a lot of time with me. She is like an angel for me.’ Inaam is also grateful to her two sons who encouraged her to do things on her own so she could learn English. ‘I am grateful for having God in my life because He always brings good people
into my life’. At the parish, Inaam is a very active member of many groups, she sings in the choir, helps with the Alpha course and gives out communion. She is an active member of the Welcoming Committee, and she visits the sick in hospital with other parishioners. ‘I like helping out’ explains Inaam.

Job hunting

‘I was a good nurse and was happy with my job back home and always felt at home
in a hospital’.

Some difficulties that Inaam encountered in finding a nursing job also contributed to her  depression. For Inaam, finding a job is like starting a new life. ‘All my life I worked in operating theatres, I studied and worked. So, I miss that a lot. I get a lot of happiness from helping people who are sick and seeing them get better fulfils me.’ She spent all her life working in hospitals
ever since she could remember. ‘I was a good nurse and was happy with my job back home and always felt at home in a hospital’. However, Inaam has not yet been able to go back to nursing because her qualifications are not recognised in Australia. At one time, Inaam got a PCA job but could not work because after one day of training she felt that she lost so much. So, she did not go back, which she said, she regrets today. ‘Now I realise that it was a big mistake I should have
continued’. Her passion for nursing brought her into doing some volunteer work at the Royal Melbourne Hospital working in reception. ‘It was a very good experience and when I am in hospital, I always feel at home because that is my home.’ She also volunteered at the Northern Hospital. Inaam tried to set up a beauty therapy business at home when she lived in a twobedroom apartment but could not continue when she moved to a one-bedroom apartment to cut down on rental costs.

Inaam hopes to find a job in pathology for which she has just completed a course. ‘It was difficult, but I finished!’, she said victoriously. ‘I really want to work because I feel alive, happy mand empowered when I work!’ From time to time, Inaam gets some financial help from her sons but she doesn’t ask because she understands that they must live their lives as well. She feels that she is the one who is supposed to help them. ‘I am their mum. I must help them. They need my help!’

Grateful living in Australia

‘There is still a lot of sadness within me, a lot, but I know that nothing is for free.
I have to pay a lot and make sacrifices to give my children a better life’.

Inaam lost a lot because of the war. ‘The war took everything we had’. She separated from her family, friends, lost her nursing career and her marriage. ‘We have to learn everything, the language, the culture. It is very hard!’ she lamented. Inaam believes in having good people around her because they give her good positive advice, information and support. She attributes having good people around her to God. ‘I believe God helps me a lot, I couldn’t do it alone. I have a lot of good friends who help me a lot.’ Inaam would like to do something good for Australia as a tribute to Australia, her now beloved country. However right now she is not yet sure what it is. ‘This country gave me peace, jobs for my sons and a lot of good things.’ Her brother and his family also joined her in Australia a couple of years ago and are settling in fine. Inaam wishes she came to Australia earlier because she would have more time to do good things for the country. ‘But it is not too late. Now I will get a job in pathology and will keep learning English to get better and better.’ She also learns a lot English from her grandchildren. ‘There is still a lot of sadness within me, a lot, but I know that nothing is for free. I have to pay a lot and make sacrifice to give my children a better life.

Happy Family’s Memories

‘Every Friday in Iraq I took my sister to the fish shop. We bought fresh fish, cooked and enjoyed a meal together in each other’s company. Every time I feel down, I call her up and we talk. I wish my sister would come here but it is hard. We call each other a lot now. We are blessed in this country, and I pray for Australia to be safe. I will die here and not anywhere else. I trust God. He helps me a lot.’