‘I didn't sleep at all': One mother's terrifying wait for news from a war zone

SBS Australia

4 hours ago

Nayran Tabiei keeps busy in the kitchen making traditional Syrian dishes for her catering business in Melbourne. But this week, her thoughts were far away, worrying about her three sons in Iran's capital Tehran. "The mobile is cut, the line they cut - no news at all. My heart started to beat. I didn't sleep at all. I tried every night, every day I'm trying to message and you see 100 message in my mobile but no answer." As bombs rained down on the city, Ms Tabiei could only hope her boys - aged in their 20s – had survived. "I'm boiling from inside because the thing - when nothing in your hand and nothing you can do. You just, y'know you want to help. My heart start like where we go, what do we do? And I cannot give them any money. I cannot give them any support, even call." Ms Tabiei is married to an Iranian man and the couple fled Syria in 2012 with their young daughter, leaving three young sons with their grandmother in Tehran. "I make bad decision. I felt so bad. I cannot believe 14 years gone I didn't see them and it's hard for a mum to see them grown up without them beside me." Arriving in Australia as an asylum seeker, Ms Tabiei later opened a small café called Flavours of Syria, offering work and training to many, like herself, who were forcibly displaced. "Hundreds and hundreds of asylum seekers, I help them open their business and start up. It makes me proud. I'm so happy in Australia and sharing my food and culture." Finally, just days ago, Ms Tabiei had the phonecall she hoped for – from her sons who are alive and well, having fled Tehran. "My boy called me, my heart beating - yeah good! They stay in the mountain. They took a room with their friend and when they called I am like 'Oh thank God, they are alive!'" Ms Tabiei wants to reunite her family but says every effort to bring her sons here has so far failed. "From the day I heard that crisis in Iran I sent all the parliament that I need help. My hearts shaken and I need my children beside me. In this moment we need help. And 14 year I didn't see them." In a further loss, rising costs have also forced her to close her Syrian café in Melbourne's St Kilda. "It's hard to pay the rent and the cost so high. Before we had plenty of girls in the kitchen, but now I cannot afford to hire." Recent data from credit reporting agency CreditorWatch shows that 10 per cent of all Australian hospitality businesses closed down over the past year. CEO Patrick Coghlan explains: "They are being hit from all sides. Obviously, consumer discretionary spend is down, cost of labour, cost of goods, et cetera, all increasing." From next week, a raft of new costs will add to the pressures, according to Luke Achterstraat, CEO of the Council of Small Business Organisations, or COSBOA. "As of one July, the award rate goes up three and a half percent. The super guarantee increases by 0.5 per cent. So that's 4 per cent already on the wage stack. And don't forget, on top of that you have payroll tax." Mr Achterstraat says more help is needed. "It's the toughest operating environment in recent memory. For a small business with revenue of up to $20 million per year, we are calling for the corporate tax rate to be slashed from 25 per cent to 20 per cent." The most recent Consumer Price Index ,or CPI, shows inflation sitting at 2.1 per cent in the 12 months to May. Creditorwatch CEO Patrick Coghlan says the new figure offers fresh hope. "We've seen two rate cuts already. They're the biggest drivers of economic activity, of GDP, of spending both from consumer and commercial. And we're expecting a couple of more of those this year as well. So, the trend is certainly heading in the right direction." Any interest rate relief is too late for Ms Tabiei, who shut her café to focus on a lower-cost catering business. Keeping busy is a labour of love, she says, and cooking distracts from other worries.
"Really I make it with my heart, my love. And when you taste it, you will see that the love in it. And it is all about giving the culture and sharing the love."