Queanbeyan pharmacist Ammar Altayib
Marking Refugee Week, the father of four and Queanbeyan identity talks about fleeing Sudan for a new life in Australia. Video: Southern NSW Local Health District
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00:00So that's in the middle here is my first degree in Australia which is from the
00:04University of Sydney, I was a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of
00:07Newcastle, Australia, which is also a pharmacy degree, Masters of Pharmacy degree,
00:11Graduate Certificate in Applied Pharmacy Practice from the Pharmaceutical
00:14Society of Australia, a Graduate Diploma of Clinical Pharmacy from the University
00:18of Tasmania, Graduate Certificate of Clinical Pharmacy from Monash University
00:23and lastly I've got, I've been recognised as a Consultant Pharmacist from the
00:29Australian and New Zealand College of Advanced Pharmacy and mainly focusing my
00:34specialty in Infectious Diseases and Medicines Management, I was born in
00:42Sudan, I grew up with my two sisters and my mum as a single mum, the Civil War is
00:48always in the news, growing up as a child you always in a state of fear, I was one
00:54of the lucky ones to have the opportunity to migrate to Australia, I
00:58was 18 years old when I came to Australia, didn't know what to expect but I knew the
01:03challenge was huge once I landed in, especially the language because I didn't
01:06speak much English but as soon as I arrived I knew the challenge is much
01:10more than what I actually expected, if I need to survive in this country I need
01:14the first thing is to learn a language, so I used to go and buy a newspaper
01:18every day, I used to go to library and borrow a book and just read whatever I can
01:22read and learn a few words, I used to sleep with the radio on all night and
01:26I just used to force myself in front of the TV to listen for hours and hours
01:30without even knowing or understanding, you can be whatever you want to be, I was
01:35lucky to be admitted to Medical Science at University of Sydney, huge milestones for
01:41myself, my family, especially my mother, it was very challenging environment
01:45because my English at the time was still not very good, it took me probably three
01:50or four times the time that the people from English background to start
01:53lectures. While I was studying I got a job as a security guard, probably the
01:59best thing I've ever done I think you get to see the culture of the country
02:03that I probably never knew that existed and also interactions and communication
02:08is very important so you have to force you to communicate with others, so it did
02:12help me in different ways to learn what's actually happening within the
02:15country. After I finished the Master's I did apply for all the internship
02:19positions in the States including position within Southern East Asia but I
02:24was all rejected and I remember I've applied for a job and called for the
02:30interview and the interview went extremely well and suddenly he just asked
02:36me where are you from on the phone and I said from Sudan and as soon as he heard
02:41that Sudan I think I could hear the voice change and never heard back from
02:45him again. Life is not going to be straightforward so you have to be ready
02:51for any hardship or difficulty in life and use it as a way to improve yourself
02:56and get better. I think I'm so lucky that I'm surrounded by strong
03:02women in my life. The first one is my mum, she has a big role in my life in terms of
03:07inspiring us to get ourself that's why I was working really hard to
03:12achieve and survive. My two sisters also very good support and my wife which is I
03:19can do everything without her consult nowadays so women it's always drive for
03:25success so in my life I think I'm so lucky.
03:29I've got the webs back in here, I can see a blood pressure tablet called
03:34erbosartan 75 milligram and you take that once daily. Just check for you if you had it
03:39but my mother taught me to never give up and finally after all my struggle I was
03:44given a chance. So I've asked him to probably send the GP summary so I think
03:49we already got it somewhere so we just have to double check. I've been the
03:54chief pharmacist at Queen Bain Hospital since 2017 and I'm very happy here.
04:05Both of my professional life and my family life I'm proud of both of them.
04:15So I like to dedicate most of my time to be a heartbreaking provider for my family
04:21and be a role model for my kids and for my community as well being the imam for
04:28the local Muslims in community in Queen Bain. So this is an appeal to all
04:34employers don't discriminate when you see a name that is linguistically
04:38different or a colour that's not that we used to see to give them that second
04:44chance to have a better chance in life.