By CASEY NEILL
MORE than 50 mechanics took one look at Ghulam Haidar’s polio-withered leg and turned him away, refusing to give the Hampton Park 21-year-old the chance to prove himself in the field he loves.
But Patterson Cheney’s New World Honda in Narre Warren saw past the refugee’s disability and took him on as a trade assistant.
Three months down the track and the company is looking to offer him an apprenticeship.
Ghulam makes his way around the workshop on a crutch with remarkable ease, his strength and agility astounding to watch.
He removes a tyre from a car using one arm while his other rests on the wooden crutch that serves as his right leg.
“I’m feeling very happy. This job is my passion,” he said.
“Because I got the job I can support my family as well.”
He came to Australia in July 2013 to save his life and forge a new one, making a treacherous sea journey via Indonesia.
“In Afghanistan my life was not safe. In Pakistan, too,” he said.
His wife, mother and sister remain in Pakistan. He said it was hard to be separated from them but that his wife’s migration application was being processed.
“Hopefully, she will be here soon,” he said.
Ghulam had a Grade 6 level education when he arrived in Australia and enrolled in an English class.
Dandenong Valley Job Support (DVJS) organised work experience at a Dandenong mechanic for him and he received great feedback, but there was doubt as to whether anyone would employ him.
Undeterred, with help from DVJS case manager De’Arne Coates, Ghulam completed a certificate two in automotive servicing technology at Chisholm Institute in Dandenong.
He then went in search of a job.
“Ghulam would have been to 50-odd places. They’d just look at him and say no,” DVJS business manager Andy Ernst said.
New World Honda Narre Warren service manager Russell Hudman said he was surprised at what Ghulam could do.
“We thought we’d give him a try, put him on for a couple of weeks and he seemed to be a really hard worker and very keen,” he said.
“He came in here, he said he wanted to do express all by himself.
“Express is generally two people working on a car at the same time.
“I was very impressed by his enthusiasm.
“Depending on how he goes this year, I’ll more than likely be looking at putting him on as a mature aged apprentice.”
Mr Hudman employed all his car washers through DVJS.
“They want work and other people aren’t willing to give them a go,” he said.
“It’s hard to keep people in a job like that because it’s monotonous.”
Mr Ernst said some job seekers had physical disabilities while others had literacy issues or depression.
“Standing there in solitude washing a car can sometimes be the best therapy for them,” he said.
“It’s putting the right person in the right place.
“We’ve got hundreds of guys and it’s finding that niche for all of them.”
Since 2010 New World Honda has employed nine staff through DVJS and the Patterson Cheney Group as a whole has employed 15 people with disabilities.
