Beenish
From Pakistan to Bairnsdale
*Beenish and her family have since moved to Clyde North, southeast of Melbourne
I fell in love with Australia as soon as I landed. I thought it was just as you see in the movies. It was so clean, green, and the wildlife – I just loved it.
I moved here to join my husband, Farooq, on 2 February 2012. He has been here since 2004 – he first came to study and was lucky enough to get a job as an IT administrator, so he stayed.
We grew up together in Lahore, the capital city of Punjab, a province in Pakistan. We were family friends, and Farooq’s family came to ask for our marriage, in the traditional way.
We got married in April 2011. It was a very colourful wedding. I had finished my Master’s, and before I knew it, my visa arrived and I came to Bairnsdale, a small town in Victoria. I found it so quiet since it was different to the hustling and bustling city we lived in back in Pakistan. I could hear the kookaburras, cockatoos and rosellas all around. You just cannot imagine this sort of peace and serenity living in the city.
For the first few months, I got used to my surroundings. I adjusted to how you do the shopping here, how you follow the proper procedures in different areas and how courteous the people are.
About six months after I arrived, I started volunteering at the local school, where Farooq worked.
After two weeks of volunteering, they offered me a job. I worked there as a teacher’s aide for two years and worked for Target as well. Both of these jobs were wonderful experiences. They helped me settle in the community, as I got to interact with people and learn about the day-to-day living here. I left both jobs after having two little girls.
Farooq and I are Australian citizens now. We visit Pakistan to see our families again, but we always look forward to coming back here. We have been very lucky, finding such warm, welcoming and loving friends in Australia who are just like family. We have Australian friends who, to the girls, are grandma and grandpa.
If I could give a message to my community – people who have made a decision to leave their homelands and settle in Australia – I would say please embrace the culture, make friends, respect the values and the law. It will help in settling down in this beautiful land of opportunities.
We have moved to this side of Melbourne for our girls, to be able to live among the multicultural community, but we will always call Bairnsdale home. I love the town, the roads, the shops, the people – everything. There are so many memories.
