Toowoomba Yazidis: Call from CatholicCare for more interpreter service funding to support growing refugee community

As far as uncommon jobs go, Nayif Rasho’s profession as an interpreter is about as a rare as it gets. That’s a problem for a growing refugee population in Toowoomba.

SUPPORT NEEDED: Yazidi man and CatholicCare TRAMS interpreter Nayif Rasho says more funding needs to be given to help the 4000-strong Yazidi community in Toowoomba.

Toowoomba man Nayif Rasho’s job is so specialised, only 11 other people in Australia do what he does.

The Yazidi man from northern Iraq is one of the few people accredited as a Kurdish-language interpreter, something he says needs to change through government funding.

Mr Rasho plays a key role assisting the 4000 Yazidi residents who call Toowoomba home — a cohort making big gains over five years despite extraordinary challenges like language barriers and mental health issues.

Yazidis are an ethno-religious group primarily based in the Middle East, whose faith and culture predates Christianity and Islam.

The first cohort of Yazidis last week celebrated five years in Toowoomba, an anniversary that now cuts them off from their previous support services.

This is despite many of them being reportedly not ready to become fully independent.

The 25-year-old Mr Rasho, who moved to Toowoomba three years ago to help his sister recover from being kidnapped by ISIS, said interpreting services were essential to ease the integration process for Yazidis.

“Many of them need support so I thought it would be better to be in such a position to help them,” Mr Rasho said.

“The good thing about our community now is they are opening new shops and buying new houses, their children are finishing school and getting jobs.

“(But) English is the main problem for them, which is why we’re asking for more interpreters.”

SUPPORT NEEDED: Yazidi man and CatholicCare TRAMS interpreter Nayif Rasho, pictured with CatholicCare CEO Kate Venables, says more funding needs to be given to help the 4000-strong Yazidi community in Toowoomba.

CatholicCare TRAMS, Mr Rasho’s employer, currently only has enough funding to train and employ three interpreters, who also double as case workers.

The situation is such that children are now becoming informal interpreters for their parents, something Mr Rasho said was unacceptable.

“I don’t agree with the families (being forced to) use their children to do interpreting, because they are hearing cases (of trauma) that other people are telling them,” he said.

CatholicCare CEO Kate Venables said while she was proud of what the organisation had achieved and how the Yazidi community had responded, more funding was needed from the Federal Government to increase, expand and extend services.

Groom MP Garth Hamilton said he intended to lobby for further funding to the Yazidi population.

“Previously I’ve worked with CatholicCare before to advocate for not just more funding but longer-term funding that helps give us that security and I’ll continue working with them into the next term,” he said.