After Najm Eldin Turgem and his wife Khadija Ibrahim arrived in Australia as refugees, the Sudanese community formed the bedrock of the life they were building.
Now the couple is trying to come to terms with the tragic deaths of four of their five children in a house fire that tore through their Werribee home at the weekend and the community is grieving with them.
The children who died in the house fire in the early hours of Sunday morning have been identified as 10-year-old Hamid Turgem, six-year-old Esin Turgem, three-year-old Nadir Turgem and one-year-old Elaine Turgem.
Their brother, eight-year-old Ibrahim, survived and he is being taken care of by his great-uncle Abdalrahman Hamdeen while his parents recover in hospital.
Mr Hamdeen, who grew up in the same Sudanese village as Mr Turgem, said it was the eight-year-old who knocked on his parents' door after the smoke, the heat and smell of the family home going up in flames woke him up.
"He came out from the room and was crying for help, 'fire, fire', and he knocked on his dad's door," Mr Hamdeen said.
"After that, he got away to the front door, opened the front door and went out."
He said by the time Mr Turgem made desperate attempts to reach his other children, "the smoke and the fire was almost covering all the house".
"The smoke and the flame of the fire was very strong, so even the neighbours pulled him back and then the house collapsed," Mr Hamdeen said.
"Then the fire brigade came and they can't do anything, it's too late."
Since Sunday, when Mr Hamdeen visited the surviving family members in hospital, he has been comforting young Ibrahim, who has been speaking to his parents over the phone in hospital.
He said it was expected the couple would be discharged from hospital on Tuesday.
Mr Hamdeen has been reflecting on the annual camping trips the Sudanese families had taken together at beautiful locations across Victoria and sometimes interstate.
"It's very hard for everyone when we think about this," he said.
"Going back to the days we have together, playing with the kids, going to the camp and spending time together as a family all in one group.
"It's very sad."
'Two beautiful daughters, two beautiful sons'
Mr Turgem's cousin Muhamad Nimir said the distance from Australia to Sudan had compounded the grief everyone felt.
"What makes this thing very difficult for us is the way we're just far away from home, from Sudan, from our parents," he said.
"The elders, when they received the news, they are just shocked because all of a sudden four beautiful kids are gone, forever."
But Mr Nimir said the gestures from neighbours and others had provided some comfort.
"The pain we feel now, all Australians, we can see, they feel the same pain," he said.
"We've seen the neighbours in Werribee where they live and they're sharing all the flowers and teddy bears for the kids.
"We've seen the neighbours crying and feeling the same pain we're feeling."
He said he was still trying to find the words to describe the loss of his cousin's "two beautiful daughters, two beautiful sons".
Fundraising to help cover the cost of funerals and to help the surviving family members recover from the enormous loss has already begun.
More than $200,000 has already been raised through crowdfunding efforts.
"The main thing now is to focus on supporting the surviving family members to ensure they could have a happy life," Mr Nimir said.
Police are still investigating the cause of the blaze.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTExLTIyL2NoaWxkcmVuLWlkZW50aWZpZWQtcmVsYXRpdmVzLWdyaWVmLXdlcnJpYmVlLWZpcmUtdHJhZ2VkeS8xMDA2NDEzODTSAShodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTAwNjQxMzg0?oc=5
2021-11-22 09:11:36Z
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