I am a blogger/writer/Software Engineer who is passionate about antiques and loves creativity and books. This is a unique online store and blog to share my thoughts, passions and creations with you. This is My Story!
At the beginning of My Story
My story started in January 1975 in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, in a middle-class family with roots established in that part of the world for thousands of years. I had a memorable and could even say happy childhood even though I was only 4 years old when the 1979 revolution happened and only 5 years old when Iraq attacked Iran and started a war that lasted for 8 long years.
I went to school a year sooner than I should have and even though I struggled at first, with the help of a lovely family friend who was a teacher assisting me with private lessons, I soon started to catch up and even go above and beyond. I studied mathematics and physics at high school and Computer Software engineering at the University of Science and Culture in Tehran. I fell in love and married at the age of 19 to a distant family member who also trained and worked in the IT industry in Tehran/Iran. We had our first beautiful daughter when I was still studying at the uni and our second beautiful daughter a couple of years later.
Life wasn’t always easy for us but like so many other Iranian families, we always managed to find a way to laugh, play and party. We had each other to rely on, there was always a family member, a parent, a brother, a sister, a cousin, a neighbour who could help or knew someone who could help if we needed.
Immigration
Despite having a socially and financially settled life, we weren’t happy and we wanted more for our daughters and ourselves. So one hot summer day while we were comfortably resting at our beautiful apartment in the north of Tehran without being worried about the cost of our energy bills, we decided to apply for a permanent Australian skilled migrant visa. Seventeen months later, we got our visa and entered a beautiful country on the other side of the world.
We didn’t know anyone in Australia and didn’t have any job or accommodation waiting for us. The English we knew were good enough not to be eligible for English as a second language classes but not good enough to understand Aussie accents and many slangs. Our temporary 3 weeks accommodation in CBD was rented through the internet for $3700 in 2010. Yep, we came to Australia with lots of cash but not knowing the rules of our new country, soon we experienced financial instability and learnt about the word ‘anxiety’.
Unknowns
We had qualifications and years of experience in Iran but we didn’t know how to play the game and represent ourselves in our new country. Also not having local experience and citizenship as we were told every time we applied for IT or managing positions for more than a year, caused us to end up working in not related positions which were lower than our qualifications and capabilities while being treated accordingly!
Life was tough for me, surprisingly tougher than when I was a kid and I had to stay quiet in the dark waiting for sirens to announce the end of aerial bombardment by Iraqis.
Eleven years have passed since the day we landed in Australia. We are all Australian citizens now, I have local experience and I have met lots of lovely people who intentionally or unintentionally have helped me along the way.
Working long hours under the pressure and insecurity of being a proud immigrant from Iran who was being mostly underestimated and hardly trusted by her new fellow country mates, caused me to not only miss precious years of my daughters’ childhood but also develop a couple of health issues. It took me ten years to accept the reality of my new life and start to appreciate the valuable experiences I had gained through the life challenges which contributed vastly to my mental and spiritual growth.
Future
Creating this website and brand has been one of my first steps toward creating my dream life in which I would not only be proud of my roots but appreciate the opportunities that were given to me in my new country. I appreciate any love or positivity you could bring to this new world of mine.
As an immigrant If you don’t acknowledge and appreciate where you come from, You will never understand, appreciate and settle where you are now.
Zahra Pedram Jafari (Zarzar)
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