When you think of refugees, you probably wouldn’t think of politicians. More like boat people, perhaps. Well, Dr Nilofar Ibrahimi was a member of parliament in Afghanistan for 12 years and a qualified general practitioner – yet here she is, living in Canberra.
When we meet for an interview, Nilofar had baked me traditional cake spiced with cardamom, then proceeded to tell me that when she was two years old, her father had been buried alive by the then communist regime.
But it’s not her past we’re here to discuss, it’s her selfless quest to help fellow Afghani refugees who are new to our shores. Somehow, when she’s not caring for her five children (including twins), she has found time to help create a book, Getting to Know Your New Home, Australia – kind of like ‘Australia 101’.
“When I go outside and talk with Afghan community they have a lot of problems – they don’t know language, didn’t know there were people like me to help them, they didn’t know where to go to learn English,” Nilofar says.
“I felt they need some guidelines to give them basic information in Australia in their language. We teach about Australia’s history, culture, social and political systems.”
Nilofar arrived in Australia in 2021, however her children and husband had moved here seven years earlier – “to keep them safe”.
“The second name of women in Afghanistan, in my opinion, is ‘struggle’,” Nilofar says. “They can’t even go out shopping without a man. The Taliban regime has taken away their basic human rights, such as education and work.”
Before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the number of girls at school was about 2.5 million. It is now almost zero. And even though Nilofar had rights as a doctor and as a member of parliament, she says she didn’t have security.
“The situation was not safe because of the war. They killed, they bombed. But I was happy because I would fight for justice, I fight for peace, I fight for gender equality in Afghanistan. I get results, no matter [if] it’s small … I miss my country, I miss my people.”
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