When Zeinab Azimi was 12, her mother moved her and her five sisters to Australia in search of a better life.
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Miss Azimi came from Iran, where her parents had earlier arrived as refugees from Afghanistan.
As a refugee family in Iran, she said, they had to renew a permit every year or be sent back to Afghanistan.
They also weren't allowed to study or work; if they went to school, they could be expelled at any time.
"It was very hard to make an income or go to school," Miss Azimi, now 20, said.
Then, when she was about eight or nine, her father died.
Her mother wanted better for her family, so applied to the Iranian immigration office to find another home.
After two years - "It was a very big struggle," Miss Azimi said - they were given approval, and told they were moving to Australia.
"Honestly, I was shocked, because I never thought I'd leave where I was born," she said.
The family was placed in Wollongong, the city Miss Azimi continues to call home.
Miss Azimi has shared her story ahead of World Refugee Day this Sunday, June 20.
Upon moving to Wollongong, she said, she found the community warm and friendly - she recalled people saying hello on the street, in stark contrast to being treated "like trash" back in Iran.
"It felt like a dream," Miss Azimi said.
She knew no English when she arrived, so spent a year at the Intensive English Centre at Warrawong High School.
She graduated from high school in 2018, and now works full-time as a cabinet maker.
Miss Azimi is also the treasurer and incoming president of the Illawarra Rotaract Club, an offshoot of Rotary for young people.
The Illawarra group was established by Miss Azimi and other young people from refugee backgrounds who were involved with the organisation SCARF Refugee Support.
About two years ago, Miss Azimi said, she attended a Rotary Youth Leadership Awakening camp after learning about it through SCARF.
She said she "learnt so much" from the camp and upon returning, she and other young people decided to form the Rotaract Club.
The club is involved in a range of projects to help the Illawarra community and beyond, including beach clean-ups, providing mobile face-washing stations for Indigenous children in remote communities, blood donation, and mental health initiatives, among others.
Miss Azimi said the group wanted to join up more members.
Members of the club had fun, she said, and learnt new skills.
"What we do for the community is meaningful," Miss Azimi said.
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