Once denied education, Mahdia now relishes her school work

Mahdia is now in Year 11 at Holroyd High School and looking forward to sitting for her Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR). She wants to study medicine or midwifery at university. After years of isolation from a school system, Mahdia has quickly caught up on her education through hard work and enthusiasm. Her proud mother Fatima said her daughter spent all of her spare time with head down in her books. 

But Mahdia’s challenges continue. She cannot afford a computer and she shares a bedroom with her mother. Mahdia completes school work and studies at a library but cannot always access the public computers nor work as late as she would like. “If I want to get to uni I have to have a very, very high ATAR,” she said, “so I have to try my hardest because I don’t have some of the facilities that other students have.”

Despite these obstacles, Mahdia’s hard work was recognised by Auburn Diversity Services last month when the organisation presented her with a Western Sydney Refugee Youth Award for Academic Achievement.

Mahdia and her family have lived in the community for more than 12 months while their application for refugee status is assessed. They have been supported by Settlement Services International’s (SSI) Community Support Program during that time.  

SSI Manager, Humanitarian Services David Keegan said Mahdia’s circumstances made her enthusiasm and achievements even more striking. “Mahdia and her family can’t work in Australia while their refugee status is assessed, so they can’t afford to support her with many resources, like as a computer, internet connection, text books or even a desk,” he said.

“But she obviously has that drive to achieve that is often endemic in people who have escaped difficult circumstances overseas to find relative freedom and opportunity in Australia.”  

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