Almost 30 years have passed but the memory and gruesome details of the 1992-95 Bosnian Civil War still clearly linger in the mind of Samira Husic, MercyCare’s new Multicultural Services Manager.
Shared her refugee story with The eRecord, Samira brings two decades of psychology and counselling background working with refugee communities in Perth.
At MercyCare, Samira is working with both internal and external stakeholders in “developing and guiding” multicultural services to help those in the community.
“I want to work to help provide opportunities for refugees, migrants and other vulnerable people to belong in their community and be recognised for the wonderful diversity of culture, skills and experience they bring,” Samira said.
“I feel it is important to recognise the trauma refugees have had to go through but at the same time recognise the tremendous strength and courage they bring through their experiences.
No-one becomes a refugee out of their own free will – it is something that happens.”
She was a mere Year 10 student when the Serbian armed forces took her, her mother, two sisters and elder brother – who then died by stepping on a landmine in July 1992 – to another part of Bosnia, on 10 May 1992.
They were forcefully displaced and left at a local primary school as a makeshift refugee camp.
“We were held at a gunpoint and not allowed to take anything with us, literally nothing,” Samira recalled.
“[As a result], we have no childhood photoS. I cannot show my children how I looked when I was little.”
Samira and her family were originally from Eastern Bosnia, neighbouring town of Srebenica, where the genocide happened in 1995 and killed two of her uncles along with many cousins, relatives and neighbours.
Samira, along with thousands of Bosnians, were internally displaced as they did not fit the United Nations’ definition of a refugee which meant they could not resettle in a third country.
“We lived in a ‘collective’ accommodation of various sorts, for more than nine years, including childcare centre, primary school gymnasium, classrooms, private houses, where the four of us had one room.
“My mother applied three times to resettle in Australia, but each time we received a rejection letter. When we received the third rejection letter, my mother paid an English teacher to translate for us, and we learnt why we kept receiving rejections,” she continued.
“Then my mother – being the most persistent person I know, as well as a survivor – found a way to get us to Croatia in 2000, where we registered as refugees and then applied to resettle in Australia.”
Finally accepted and given Humanitarian Visa subclass 204 (Women at Risk), Samira and her family arrived into Perth in April 2001.
Samira’s mother was diagnosed with a chronic Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) upon their arrival in Perth and assisted by the Association for Torture and Trauma Survivors (ASeTTs). It led her to realise the importance of helping refugees as their “past experiences and traumas would not simply disappear” when they arrived in a third country.
“I was attracted to volunteer with ASeTTS. I also studied psychology and children and family studies at Edith Cowan University. I then worked as a counsellor, coordinator and a manager with ASeTTS for over 15 years,” Samira explained.
“Moving to MercyCare as a manager of multicultural services for me means being in a space where I can advocate for the needs of vulnerable people from all walks of life, supporting people in the community and learning more about other cultures and backgrounds.”