Guiding Hand for Newcomers

By Andre Khoury

Knowing the road Assyrian Refugees take and the hurdles they face when coming to Australia sparked Paul Gorgees’ commitment and passion to helping others in his community.

As Centre coordinator at Fairfield’s Assyrian Resource Centre, Paul Gorgees’ role is important to the wellbeing of those who use the centre.

“My job is to coordinate the services for the new arrival Assyrians and to help them settle easily in Australia,” he said.

This involves, among other things, providing information and assistance about immigration advice, case management, educational groups and community programs.

His role, and that of his colleague, youth worker Ashur Isaac and “an army of volunteers”, is crucial as the Assyrian community in Fairfield number more than 20,000 making them the second-largest in the area.

About 3,700 people use the centre every year.

“Being a refugee myself, I feel what the other people are feeling when they arrive in Australia,” Mr Gorgees said of his involvement with the resource centre.

“What I thought is to help those people because I have the ability, I have the knowledge.

“I do love it.”

Mr Gorgees, 55, said it was difficult for him coming to Australia in 1994 to “adapt to the new laws, new customs… because we haven’t accustomed to freedom, democracy”.

“We don’t know about those things,” he said.

Mr Gorgees said his advice to newly-arrived migrants was to “go and study something for yourself”.

“Start with English and then go to the right job you want because there are a lot of opportunities here,” he said. “They must utilise those opportunities.”

Article courtesy of Fairfield Advance, 26/4/2006. Mr Paul Gorgees can be contacted at the Assyrian Resource Centre on (02) 9728 2594.

Article posted: 05/05/2006