Iraqi men’s clean start
WHEN Sulaiman Iylas fled Iraq in 2018, he left behind a successful clothing business and network of professional contacts that would help him put food on the table.
It has been a hard slog starting a new life in Toowoomba which has been made more difficult by a stiff language barrier.
He applied for countless positions but was knocked back for them all.
That changed when an opportunity came up to run a small business washing police vehicles at the Toowoomba Police Station.
Almost one year on, Mr Iylas and his partner Saad Abdi are regulars at that station, washing 16 vehicles a week and supporting their families.
Station Officer-in-Charge Senior Sergeant Tony Neumann said the program had been great for police and the Yazidi community.
He reached out to the city’s new arrivals via the refugee advocacy body Multicultural Australian in a bid to break down the barriers between Yazidis and the police.
“One of the problems is that for a lot of the frontline police, the only time that they engage with this community is in times of crisis,” he said.
“We want them to see police in a different light because for some refugee communities, policing in their home country is completely different from policing in Australia.”
Mr Iylas agreed. Speaking through an interpreter, he said the Yazidi community had a difficult history with Iraqi police and felt much safer when the Iraqi Army soldiers were nearby.
“For any of those non-English speaking communities, it is very challenging for police when you are responding to an incident where communication is vital,” Snr Sgt Neumann said.
Toowoomba is home to more than 100 Yazidi families, most of whom fled Iraq and Syria in 2018 after ISIS fighters swept across the Middle East.
That conflict resulted in widespread human rights abuses and international calls for resettlement.
Prior to the Covid pandemic, the Toowoomba station was leading the way in building relationships with the Yazidi families living in Darling Downs.
Snr Sgt Neumann said he had offered work experience positions to about half a dozen Yazidi high school students.
“One of those students went on to become a volunteer in policing after they graduated,” he said.