Ed Yousef is a young man who arrived from Syria in June 2013 seeking a safe place to live, away from war and destruction and looking to start a new life with better opportunities.

Ed is 3rd year at UNSW studying medicine and majoring in pathology. He was first a client of SydWest, then a volunteer and now a tutor with our youth homework study centre program for young people from refugee and other migrant backgrounds.

I still remember the day when I first visited SydWest as a fresh client. I met with my caseworker and after he greeted me, he introduced me to SydWest and the programs that were running at that time.

Three days after his first meeting, it was the first Syrian Welcome Picnic, held in Alpha Park, Blacktown.

My family and I went with SydWest to one of the parks and had a wonderful barbeque under the rain. Then we shared our life stories with each other, and we discussed the obstacles and hardships we had to go through on the way to Australia.

During the first couple of weeks after my arrival, SydWest provided us with the great support to start our life in Australia and make new connections. I remember the day I went back to SydWest to participate in the volunteering program and contacted clients who share the same mother tongue as me. It was such a wonderful moment helping others and givng them a hand to solve their problems.

In early 2017, I joined the homework support program at SydWest and worked with an amazing team to assist students with their homework. My role as tutor is to help students with their homework, teach them techniques to solve their mathematical problems and simplify concepts for them as much as I can. I am very proud of being tutor at the homework support centre at SydWest because it gives the opportunity to pay back to my community as well as SydWest and its great people. 

At the moment, I work at four different jobs (Woolworths, Kmart, HireUp) as well as SydWest. I am also finishing my Bachelor of Medical Science degree. I am looking forward to continuing to work with SydWest and participate more in helping the community.

Ed Yousef also spoke at the SydWest 2018 AGM in Rouse Hill, sharing his story to inspire others to reach high and achieve their dreams.