26-07-2025
Refugee support organisation helps multicultural women adjust to life in Australia
Samar Miqdad once lived a beautiful and fulfilling life in Gaza.
She loved her job as a Montessori teacher, her husband ran a successful veterinary practice, and her four children were thriving at school.
In her spare time, she made elaborately designed candles for people in her neighbourhood.
In October 2023, she was sheltering at her parents' house when she found out her home was bombed.
In disbelief, her husband and eldest son made the dangerous journey to confirm the 14-story building had been levelled to the ground.
"My husband told me don't cry, we made a home, we'll make a new one when we finish the war," she said.
That was the last time she heard from him.
"I get a call after two hours [and] my son told me: 'Mum, we're in the hospital, and my father is dead,'" Ms Miqdad said.
With support from her brother in Australia, the 45-year-old made the difficult decision to leave her homeland and evacuate to Egypt with her four young children.
As she went back to the remains of her home to salvage what she could find for their journey, she discovered her candle-making kit in the rubble.
The family of five arrived in Perth in August last year, but like many refugees, Ms Miqdad struggled to adjust.
They are some of the more than 1,500 Palestinians who have arrived in Australia since 2023.
"It's really so hard because it's so different, different place, different people, different language," Ms Miqdad said.
That's when not-for-profit Sisters Hand in Hand stepped in to offer a lifeline.
The grassroots, Muslim-run volunteer group has been helping women like Ms Miqdad for more than a decade.
"It was started to create a community for women, women going through hardships ... women who had gone through domestic violence, had lost children, who were just lonely or new to the country," founder and CEO Korann Halvorsen said.
"Our main goal is to help women to become self-sufficient."
Some examples of the organisation's work include helping women with visas, going to court, setting up a business or finding work.
With support, Ms Miqdad turned her passion for candle-making into a successful business, using the same kit from Gaza.
"Korann bought a lot of material for me and made a special event, and made me a page on Instagram and Facebook," she said.
"I'm making this business for my kids, to have a job, because they need something, the food, the shopping, the school, the clothes."
Ms Halvorsen founded Sisters Hand in Hand after noticing a lack of culturally safe support services for women in her community.
"I have five daughters so when I saw that gap and I saw that something needed to be filled, I wasn't waiting for it to get done," she said.
It's a gap the Multicultural Centre for Women's Health has noticed nation-wide.
"We hear from women all the time ... they say this is the first time somebody has come to me to talk to me about my health and circumstance in my language since I arrived in Australia," CEO Dr Adele Murdolo said.
Dr Murdolo said mainstream services were often "siloed" and failed to cater to the "culturally appropriate and responsive aspect" of vulnerable women.
Last year, Sisters Hand in Hand opened a culturally safe refuge for women and children.
For women like Amal Abdullahi, it's been a safe haven.
The mother of three has been living at the shelter with her children for months after they became homeless amid Perth's housing crisis.
"If I didn't come here, I don't even know where I would be … probably ran out of money to rent hotels and motels and because I didn't have a car," she said.
"It's not having only a place to sleep but having a support person … and [they] almost become like a family."
The refuge has sheltered more than 20 women and their families, offering schooling and counselling services.
But with only donations to rely on, Ms Halvorsen said they were struggling to keep up with growing demand.
"Some of them come with nothing on their backs so it takes a lot financially to be able to keep a woman, pay the bills, food for a week," she said.
While Samar Miqdad still longs for her life in Gaza, Australia has started to feel like home.
She's enrolled into English classes, her children are excelling at school, and she's working around the clock to keep up with her candle orders.
Her most popular one — a candle in the shape of the Palestine map.
"I love my homeland, my Gaza. I hope so much to go back to Gaza and see my family but it's hard [because] we must have a future," she said.
"My kids are happy here, they have safety, have peace, have school and have friends … life is good."
