![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1c984c434d4d1e0987afef6fbaed8b81.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nZein remembers Syria in small things.<\/p>\n
In jasmine, rose bushes, or a tabby cat.<\/p>\n
These are the fragments she has of family who remain roughly 12,000 kilometres away.<\/p>\n
Though she talks to her grandpa every Sunday, the last time she saw him in person was when she was five.<\/p>\n
She fled the country with her mother and father when Syria’s civil war began.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For Zein, roses have become a reminder of family still in Syria. (ABC News: Leah White)<\/p>\n
They went to Iraq before eventually settling in Wollongong on NSW’s south coast.<\/p>\n
At 17, Zein is one of 8.6 million first-generation Australians who finds themselves part of two worlds.<\/p>\n
For Zein, it is the Arabic cultures and heritage she was born into and the regional Australian life she now lives.<\/p>\n
Here’s how she embraces both, in her own words.<\/p>\n
Last bus to leave Syria<\/p>\n
There are things that have not left me since, like the first bomb that landed in Aleppo.<\/p>\n
Dad had dropped me off at my grandparents’ place \u2014 my mum’s parents \u2014 and the bomb landed around 100 metres from where he was working.<\/p>\n
We couldn’t reach him.<\/p>\n
I remember sobbing until the moment he walked through the door.<\/p>\n
I remember the air raids a couple nights before we left, sleeping on the floor of my grandma’s house and watching the missiles drop.<\/p>\n
I remember my grandparents’ faces as we left.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/54c1d10c55eaa58c03e941f903b9183b.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Looking at family photos is a way to remember memories of Syria. (ABC News: Leah White)<\/p>\n
Dad had already left because he was about to be kidnapped for being a doctor. Mum told me: ‘You can’t say a word because if you do we’re not getting out of this bus alive’.<\/p>\n
And I remember, as we crossed the border of Syria, the bus behind us exploded.<\/p>\n
We were the last official, legal bus to leave.<\/p>\n
Syrian refugees hope to fulfil university dream<\/a><\/p>\n After escaping the Syrian civil war as a young boy, Mazen Al Jahed is one of thousands of South Australian students preparing for their year 12 exams.<\/p>\n To get to Iraq we got onto a metal dinghy.<\/p>\n If you fell off there was no way we could save you.<\/p>\n It was basically just a tin floor and tin walls. We were cramped, pressed up against suitcases.<\/p>\n I think the discomfort was overshadowed by the pure relief we felt afterwards \u2014 seeing my dad at the Iraq border.<\/p>\n Beyond the smiling photos<\/p>\n We were in Iraq from 2012 to 2016.<\/p>\n My parents sheltered me from the negative parts.<\/p>\n I remember going to dinner at our favourite pizza shop with my parents. My mum’s clinic.<\/p>\n I didn’t realise how much they were struggling behind the scenes.<\/p>\n My parents were working basically as freelance doctors because the Iraqi government wasn’t giving out salaries.<\/p>\n Zein and her parents as they made their way to Australia. (Supplied: Zein)<\/p>\n Now, when I look back at memories, I can really see my parents faces clearly.<\/p>\n I can see the worry and the stress.<\/p>\n Although they were smiling in photos I can see it in their eyes: How can we protect our child from whatever might happen?<\/p>\n How moving to Australia changed things<\/p>\n Coming to Australia was a split second decision.<\/p>\n We knew we had to get out, the fighting had already happened in Iraq, and everything was snowballing across the Middle East.<\/p>\n Australia was really our saving grace.<\/p>\n And after a couple of years, after we moved to Wollongong, I saw my parents finally relax.<\/p>\n First-generation migrants find themselves caught between two worlds<\/a><\/p>\n As an Australian who was born overseas, I find the external harmony of multiculturalism is not reflected in the internal plight of first-generation migrant youth in Australia \u2014 which is why it\u2019s important to shed light on our journeys.<\/p>\n They weren’t looking over their shoulder at every turn, thinking, ‘are we going to have to go back? Is my daughter going to have to be in danger again?’<\/p>\n But making friends with Australians, coming out of that sheltered Arabic community, it was really tough to integrate our friends with my own Arabic lifestyle.<\/p>\n For three or four years we didn’t speak Arabic at all in our house.<\/p>\n Mum and dad had to learn English to get work and I had to learn English for school.<\/p>\n Because of that \u2014 while I can still understand and form some words \u2014 I’ve lost it.<\/p>\n We have Arabic food every week. We cook it as often as we can because it’s our way to keep the culture alive.<\/p>\n But when friends come over I would tell my mum ‘can you cook some Australian food?’<\/p>\n I didn’t want to be judged.<\/p>\n I’m Arabic Australian. I stopped trying to separate the two<\/p>\n It was my English teachers who first longed to hear my story.<\/p>\n It made me feel so much more at home with myself.<\/p>\n I’m Syrian and I’m Australian. That’s who I am.<\/p>\n I’m not making my mum cook something different than what she knows.<\/p>\n If you push one aside, it’s just going to build up resentment for that culture and you’re never going to be truly happy.<\/p>\n You have two sides to your life and both are unique.<\/p>\n Zein re-watches YouTube videos her grandfather made to remember life in Syria. (ABC News)<\/p>\n In Syria, my grandpa made a couple of YouTube video diaries of me that I rewatch.<\/p>\n There is a video of me in his garden, where he had a bunch of rose bushes and they were absolutely beautiful.<\/p>\n Now, every time I pass roses, I go ‘this is my grandpa speaking to me’.<\/p>\n He’s still alive, but our worlds are parallel.<\/p>\n There’s roses here and back there, so why am I trying to separate these two worlds that clearly melt together so well.<\/p>\n What I remember is also proof I was there<\/p>\n I remember the distinct smell of Syria.<\/p>\n Of jasmine and rubble and dust. A real earthy smell.<\/p>\n For a couple of years after we left I could still smell it on my mother’s clothes.<\/p>\n Zein knows being Syrian Australian means embracing both parts of herself. (ABC News: Leah White)<\/p>\n Whenever I pass by a jasmine bush it hits me again because it’s something that I can’t just leave behind.<\/p>\n Now, I try to take a second to reflect. The smell is a testament I lived through this.<\/p>\n I can still smell my hometown.<\/p>\n I haven’t forgotten.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f1d2a825eb105d65d59261d498748b0c.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cb7065aed6d8e8c002873cd44beff101.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e2f977d6277ddeeefcbde2c5391381f9.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Heywire](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/9639c2f5fe9862bcb5ed88c5a0e5dcfe.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n