Toowoomba former refugees Abraham and Maddi Miller celebrate nearly a decade of successful cleaning business

Abraham and Maddi Miller came to Toowoomba with a couple of suitcases in hand. Fifteen years later, they run a successful business and say it was a phone call to the mayor that helped make it happen.

When Abraham Miller and his family arrived in Toowoomba 15 years ago with just a couple of suitcases, he had no idea his new home would lead him to owning two houses and a successful cleaning business.

“No way would I thought it would get to this point,” the former refugee and pastor from Guinea said.

Mr Miller and his wife Maddi are celebrating almost a decade in business as MadMiller and Sons Cleaning Services, which employs six people and has grown to a turnover of $200,000 a year.

The family even has an investment property thanks to the growth of the company.

MadMiller and Sons Cleaning Service owners Abraham and Maddi Miller have celebrated nearly a decade in business after arriving in Toowoomba from Guinea in Africa 15 years ago.

But as successful as he is now, he said he hadn’t lost sight of his roots in Liberia, which his family escaped when he was a child due to civil conflict.

Mr Miller finished high school in a Guinean refugee camp, before getting married, becoming a pastor and taking on a congregation.

But growing civil unrest across west Africa in the mid-2000s convinced him it was no longer safe for his family.

“You had three countries involved in wars around Guinea, and my father-in-law, who migrated to Australia in 2006, sent me this immigration form to seek asylum here,” Mr Miller said.

After an extensive interview and medical process, the Millers — Abraham, Maddi, their two kids and Maddi’s younger sister — were rushed out of Guinea due to violence in the capital and landed in Toowoomba on June 15, 2008.

It was not an easy decision, especially to leave his congregation at such a tenuous time.

“I was really happy for our children, because I didn’t have to worry if the next bullet was coming for my head or theirs,” Mr Miller said.

“I did not want to leave the congregation, my mindset was to continue, but I was thinking of the safety of my kids.”

(from left) Bertha, Charles, Abraham, Sandra and Maddi Miller. Citizenship ceremony at Empire Church Theatre. Photo Nev Madsen / The Chronicle

This was before the Garden City had been established as a Refugee Welcome Zone in 2013, and Mr Miller admits he faced some xenophobia while he walked with Maddi to TAFE.

But after a while, this became an embrace.

“Most of the Toowoomba people haven’t travelled outside Toowoomba, so they were hesitant of how they would approach us,” he said.

“There was some hostility directed at us, people shouting to go back to where we came from.

“But eventually people started to accept us.

“Toowoomba now is a different Toowoomba – Toowoomba is a home to me.”

The family all officially became Australian citizens in 2013.

MadMiller and Sons Cleaning Service owners Abraham and Maddi Miller have celebrated nearly a decade in business, after arriving in Toowoomba from Guinea in Africa 15 years ago.

How phone call with mayor changed couple’s path

After taking on a variety of jobs to support his family, particularly his son’s growing potential as a soccer player thanks to a scholarship from Toowoomba Grammar School, the couple decided in 2013 a small cleaning business was the right move.

But he had no idea how to start a business in Australia, so Mr Miller rang the one man he thought would know.

“I went online and rang up the Toowoomba Regional Council, and I got onto Paul Antonio’s office” he said.

“I said I was a resident in Toowoomba and wanted to speak to no one but him, and they put me through.

“I introduced myself to him, and I said to him, I have applied for work everywhere, I’ve got family and I don’t want to go on Centrelink.”

Mr Miller said the mayor got him in touch with a member of council’s strategic planning team, who got him into a microbusiness course and helped him set up the company.

Toowoomba mayor Paul Antonio.

While it was the couple who put in the thousands of hours cleaning homes and businesses, Mr Miller said he was grateful to Mr Antonio for getting him the right help.

“It’s a credit to the Toowoomba community (that I am a success), and to Paul Antonio — he has no idea what he did for me,” he said.

Mr Miller had attempted to get in contact with the mayor after he announced his impending retirement on July 21.

In response to the plaudits, Mr Antonio said Mr Miller’s story was a sign of how supportive the Toowoomba community could be.

“I’m very thankful he said that, and while I’ve taken the liberty to help people, I have real compassion for these people,” he said.

“It’s a really satisfying feeling to know that the phone call led to him establishing a small business.

“It’s a beautiful story, and it’s wonderful for them.”

Abraham’s pledge to support Guinean refugees

Abraham Miller in 2015. Photo Nev Madsen / The Chronicle

While he is now an Australian and has a deep love for Toowoomba, Mr Miller hasn’t lost touch with his life in Guinea — particularly his congregation.

He and his wife regularly fly back to Guinea to support the community and work on new buildings, including schools.

“Right now we’re building a Bible college in Guinea — we were able to raise near $30,000 and we rang the Guinea mission and every two years we go back,” Mr Miller said.

The next project is the most ambitious — filling an entire shipping container with donations from Toowoomba Grammar students and sending it to Guinea to support the hundreds of children in refugee camps.

“The Toowoomba Grammar School contributed used clothing, toys and other things to go to the children in refugee camps,” he said.

“These kids had literally nothing, but they wanted to learn.

“I spoke to the boys at Grammar of how privileged they were, and the boys were moved so they contributed many things they didn’t use in the school term.”