Juomana, Syria

I’m Joumana and am from Sweida, Syria. It is currently at war. I have three children. One is studying engineering in Syria. (We hope he will join us in Australia.) One son is in Sharjah, and we have an 11-year- old daughter in Australia.

We arrived in Australia on 25 November 2014. We came because my sister is here—she’s been here since 1991. Also, it is safe in Australia. Here, everyone is happy. Even if I don’t speak English well, people always try to help me.

I was a tailor in Syria. I owned a factory that made clothes. I was also a hairdresser—I can cut and colour hair!

I haven’t had a job in Australia yet; I’m focusing on learning English. But I’m now focusing on my tailoring and knitting—I like to do anything that I can do by hand. My mother taught me everything.

I met Luz through another Sister, Ana Maria, who was in the same English class as me. I’ve just started on my SisterWorks journey, but I really like it. Everyone has been very helpful.

I hope to open a shop one day and see what happens. I am very aware of the ups and downs of business, and hope that SisterWorks can help me throughout it all.