Meet our families

photo of a refugee family in the northern rivers

Growing the Northern Rivers refugee network

Read about the progress of refugee families settling locally since 2022.

  • Lismore family in the swim

    Lismore family in the swim

    Knowing how to swim is an Australian essential, and the Lismore Region Refugee Settlement group’s new family are diving right in. With a steamy Lismore summer knocking on the door, the entire family is taking swimming lessons. The Hazara family of a mother and five children are originally from Afghanistan and came to Australia via…

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  • Making the most of a new life

    Making the most of a new life

    Happy, excited, safe. These three words sum up the feelings of the Bloudani family as they adjust to their new lives in Australia, 12 years after fleeing war-torn Syria. The family have wasted no time in the four months since their arrival. Sana (12) is excelling at maths and science at Mullumbimby High School, and…

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  • Family does Brisbane for free

    Family does Brisbane for free

    The challenge was to show one of our newly arrived families how to do a capital city for free (excluding travel). Brisbane City Council has a great website called Five free things to do in Brisbane. We actually didn’t get to do any of those suggestions because some of them required a vehicle to get…

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  • Life-changing experience

    Life-changing experience

    Ever since the horrible Tampa boat ‘incident’ I’d felt quite disempowered about the state of refugees, that is until a chance encounter about 18 months ago. I was walking my dog on the beach and I met a newly arrived Syrian refugee family (it was their second day in Australia!). I learnt from the person…

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  • Foaad’s special day

    Foaad’s special day

    By Foaad Makansi One of the most beautiful, elegant and wonderful celebrations ever for you is the one that friends and family organise for you. Nothing lasts in your imagination like these memories.In these shots. on this day, I turned 40 years old.  It is my first year in Australia.  In fact, what I found…

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  • Leen catches the singing bug

    Leen catches the singing bug

    Young Leen has only been in Australia a year but she’s well and truly caught the performing bug after singing a duet at the sold-out Finding Freedom concert recently at Mullumbimby. Leen, 10, is now part of children’s choir that has recently been set up by Emily Lubitz.  Leen, just loves to sing, all the…

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  • Afghan family welcomed

    Afghan family welcomed

    A mother and her five children from Afghanistan have been welcomed to Australia by the Lismore Region Refugee Settlement group. Lismore co-ordinator Anne Tuart said the family arrived in late July and was already enrolled in local schools and TAFE. “They’re highly motivated,” Anne said. “They’re settling in well and are ready to start English…

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  • Big day celebrating our community

    Big day celebrating our community

    Fourteen-year-old Syrian refugee Nada stole the show at the Celebrating our BR4R Community event at Tintenbar Hall recently. Nada was one of three refugee panellists who told of their experiences, challenges and achievements since arriving here. In perfect English, Nada, who could not speak the language when she arrived here nine months ago, told us about…

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  • Driving to independence

    Driving to independence

    How do you define the successful resettlement of a refugee family? Among the many ways such as succeeding in school and having access to language and medical services, is learning to drive. Public transport in the Northern Rivers is unreliable and refugee families need to be able to move around for all the same reasons…

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  • Six month on, a family update

    Six month on, a family update

    We are a Syrian family consisting of a father, mother, two daughters, and a boy. We arrived in Australia and have been living here in a very close area for about 6 months. There were people waiting for us at the airport that we only knew through photos and text messages. They helped us get…

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  • Small acts can define success

    Small acts can define success

    What defines a successful resettlement? It’s a question often asked by and of CSGs. Not all successful outcomes cost money and not all stories are the same. Some aspects of success can easily be overlooked in favour of the big ticket items such as work, housing, independence etc. Here’s a little success story – of…

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  • Mary’s family

    Mary’s family

    “There is nothing left for us there” I’m sitting in the kitchen of the Haddad family in Ballina, having a conversation with Bashar and Mary about their experiences since they left Syria just over four years ago, and about how they feel about the CRISP program that allowed them to come to Australia. Bashar speaks…

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  • Essam and Douua’s Family

    Essam and Douua’s Family

    We feel safe here Tucked away in a quiet, leafy cul de sac in Ocean Shores, is the home of Essam, Douaa, their two young children, and Douaa’s mother, Rabiaa. Its peacefulness is a far cry from war-torn Syria, which the family left in 2018, and I imagine very different from life in Iraq as…

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