The organisation supporting the migrant women who ‘fall between the cracks’

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TRANSCRIPT
Sanaa Hamid’s family is from Eritrea in East Africa, but she was born in Sudan.
In 1998 when she was 15, she came to Australia as a refugee with her older sister.
A few years later, her father arranged a marriage for her.
She’d never seen a photo of this man and knew nothing about his personality, but was told she had to stay with him.
They were married 19 years and had six children, but he became violent towards her.
Eventually, with the support of Victoria’s Centre of Advancing Women, Sanaa divorced her husband and found safety.
“One of my friends, he told me come to Sunshine. We have a beautiful centre. They can help you and we can have coffee and they have courses to study. Don’t sit by yourself at home. I said, I don’t want to talk to anyone. I don’t want to go out into the community, but I’ll try to come. I like the place and I like the help, you know, the women share their stories together.”
The centre was founded by Samia Baho [[ba-ho]], an Eritrean woman who came to Australia as a refugee in the 1970s.
She began working as a cleaner but went on to study in areas of social work, women’s health and law, and has since been a researcher on the needs of refugee women.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms Baho noticed an increase in family violence, which led to her starting the Centre of Advancing Women in 2020.
She says refugees often face language and cultural barriers when trying to get help for domestic violence.
Most of the centre’s 19 volunteers came to Australia as refugees from many different backgrounds, possess postgraduate degrees in social work and health, and between them, speak 11 different languages.
Ms Baho says the lived experience of her volunteers is what makes the centre different.
 “We have the culture, we have the similarity, so automatically they feel connected, automatically they feel, not just we listen to them and believe them, where most agencies or most services do, but we understand them. Because we are from them.”
Ms Baho says many well-intentioned organisations try to help refugee women but often women can become dependent on these services.
She says her centre’s model aims to give women the training they need to understand Australian systems and support themselves.
 
“But also the women, they have to know how to own their own problems and how to learn how to solve those problems…We’re talking about women from, you know, marginalised, very small communities like for example, from African refugee backgrounds. We’re talking about the Middle East, Iraqi and all of these. And then also, we have Indians, they come in as you know, under the spouse visa and all. So it’s very important to know about difficulties from their own cultures.”
For many women that come to the centre, the threat of deportation is used as coercive control.
Earlier this year, the Albanese Government declared domestic violence a national crisis in Australia and appointed an expert panel to review the National Plan to End Violence Against Women, which has been in place since 2022.
Both the original plan and the recent review mention the use of immigration laws in domestic violence cases involving refugee women.
But Monash University Professor Marie Segrave [[sea-grave]] says still not enough is being done.
 “What we are seeing are small changes that are heralded as advances, but I would argue they’re not really changing the fact that the migration system, for example, really is sustaining the conditions that domestic and family violence thrives in. And it continues to kind of ensure that that their sponsors or other people can kind of leverage the control of the migration system over them so they can threaten them with deportation, of dobbing them into immigration, of separating people from their children.”
A spokesperson for the federal Department of Social Services says the government is committed to ending gender-based violence and has invested $4.4 billion ((in September)) to deliver on the National Plan.
Ms Baho says refugee women providing professional services are often discriminated against.
“I’m talking about skills and qualifications in the way, you know, like, Australia and Western…I personally heard many times, oh, you don’t have the training, oh, you don’t have the skills. Not because they ask what skills and what training we have, but just because we look different. Yes, we look black. Yes, some of us wear the scarves… when they look at us like this, what do you think? How do you think they will deal with the women?”
Ms Baho says more needs to be done at a policy level, which should be informed by those with lived experience.
 “They have to come and have a look at other models that are working and improving. I think I could say with all the confidence, if it’s not the only, we are one of the very few offering pathways for women from being a victim to achieving in the areas of training and employment…They need to move away from seeing us as a liability. We are an asset to the society.”
Last year the centre offered social work courses.
In November, they had a graduation ceremony at the Parliament of Victoria.
Sanaa’s daughter was in the audience.
“Oh my God, I’m the only one who danced like a monkey dancing. I was so happy… And my kid was so proud. My daughter, she said I’m going to graduate like you one day, Mum. She wants to be a psychologist in the future.”
Ms Baho says the course is currently under review, but once funding is secured, they hope to offer more courses in January 2025.
She says it’s a big job running a family violence support centre, as there are challenges from within the community and the system, but seeing women take charge of their own lives makes it worth it.
“For us to pick up the women that fell in between the cracks, and their life being destroyed, and pick them up and build them. That’s music to our ears when they say they are out of focus.”
In November, the Centre will be opening a cafe and African beauty salon, where women will have the opportunity to gain skills and employment in other areas.
Their first website is set to launch in the coming weeks where information can be found for those who would like to volunteer with them.
For anyone listening who might be experiencing domestic violence, Sanaa says to never give up.
“You need to speak up. They have to. And I know it is scary. I know it’s hard because you never try it, you know, but it’s better to say something than stays silent all your life. And one day you can come here, guys, to our centre and we can share our story with you… it’s nice to share your story and don’t stay silent. Please speak up for yourself, not only for your kids, because you are important.”
Domestic violence
If you or someone you know wants to talk about family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or call Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call 000.