Tell us about your life now?
From Sandra O’Brien (Greaves) in New Zealand:
I went back to university part-time and completed a Masters Degree in Counselling. I joined an agency on the campus where quota refugees are processed in NZ for a six week mandatory stay. The agency has counsellors, psychologists, body therapists and psychiatrists. I worked in a dual role, as a counsellor on site, and as a social worker once refugees were settled in the community. Most of the work took place with the help of interpreters. I loved my job, but my husband took up a position as Financial Controller for a company in Dubai, so I went with him. I did voluntary work at the womens refuge there and also saw adult clients privately.
Then Mark was transferred to Doha in Qatar, where I worked part- time with students and parents at an international school, as well as doing social work once a year in Sri Lanka at a womens detention centre and two orphanages. We returned to NZ in August 2015, after 8 years in the Middle East, and have been helping both my son and eldest daughter with renovations to their homes since then! Lexi lived with us in Doha as she is in television and works for Al Jazeera Network. We have four gorgeous grandchildren – Isla (3),Oliver (2), Theo (8 months) and Sophia, who is 1 week old! I am currently working part-time at an independent Muslim girls school as Guidance Counsellor.
