With no job on the horizon Malak went to Tafe to enrol in an English language course to improve his already fluent, but accented, English in the hope of improving his job prospects only to be told again they were not able to help him.
“They told me, ‘No you're overqualified we can’t give you any courses … we can't help you, you have to find your own way’,” he said.
Malak was told again and again by different people and organisations there would be no work for him in Tasmania, but his visa stipulated he must find work in the state and remain for at least two years.
Finally, Malak wrote up his resume on Gumtree in the hope “Maybe someone will find me because I can’t find someone”.
This proved to be the break Malak needed, he took a call offering him work as a farm hand in Railton.
Despite warnings of cold and early mornings, hard work and modest pay Malak jumped at the opportunity.
“She told me ... many backpackers weren’t stubborn [enough] to live like this with the hard work and I thought ‘No I have no choice I have to’ and after that in October I got my family with me,” Malak said.
“It is really hard [work] but it is a step, I am lucky … I don’t depend on the government and we succeed to find our way.”
Malak said the welcome they got from the community in Railton was heart warming.
The community helped him secure a house and furniture and settle in.
“Everyone came and one was vacuuming, one was, they were very lovely people here,” he said.
“In our culture it is different, we have to serve all of you not let all of you serve us, but they did.”
The family is now settled in the quiet countryside, worlds away from the rush of Egypt.
“We are coming from a very big country in Egypt, 100 million population so it is four times all of Australia ... Alexandria has [a] 20 million population, it is one city,” Malak said.
“Here is beautiful, here is a better lifestyle because competition is not hard like Egypt and the Middle East because [of the] competition there; 100 million people compete for food, for education, for jobs, but here all Australia is 30 million, competition is less.”