Moved by the images of the body of three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach in 2014, the then Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced Australia would accept an extra 12,000 refugees from Syrian and Iraq conflicts.

The first of those 12,000 to arrive was Iraqi Osama Butti and his family. They touched down at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport on December 7, 2015.

More than five years on, Osama and his family have just become Australian citizens.

“When we came to Australia I felt like we had won the lottery and getting our citizenships feels like we have won the lottery a second time,” Osama said this week.

During his family’s tortuous flight from their homeland, Osama met the then Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton in Jordan in late 2014 and was handed a visa to come to Australia.

“I thanked Mr Dutton for the opportunity and I thanked the Australian people for offering us a new life in Australia,” he said.

“I promised him that me and my family would be very good citizens for Australia.”

Now as Citizens, Osama, wife Hanan and children Mina and Saif, have become just that.

“My two kids are both studying pharmacy at RMIT and my wife and I are working full time and paying taxes,” he said.

“My wife is a teacher’s aide and I am a work broker helping other migrants and refugees find work,” Osama said.

He said that he and his family had always felt welcome in Australia.

“From the moment we arrived we were received and welcomed by (refugee and migrant settlement agency) AMES Australia at the airport and AMES supported us through that early time,” Osama said.

“I began to volunteer at AMES and then worked casually as a community guide.

“Then I got the opportunity to work full-time as a work broker with AMES helping other migrants and refugees find employment,” he said.

Osama and his family have been in Australia for nearly six years now.

“During this time as a family we have built a new life in a new country. There were some difficulties to begin with, especially for the kids in completing their studies; they had to cope with a completely different education system,” he said.

“And my wife and I struggled to find jobs at first but these things mean nothing compared to the opportunities we have enjoyed in coming to this country,” Osama said.

Osama has a master’s degree and worked in marketing and commerce in Iraq. But in Australia he embarked on a career inn community development and supporting migrants and refugees arriving in his wake.

“I studied for a certificate in community services and I now work with AMES Australia as a work broker. My jobs is to support refugees and migrants find their pathways in Australia, just as we did,” he said.

Osama says his family now feel settled in Australia.

“We still have cousins and friends in Iraq but now Australia is our second mother country. It’s our home,” he said.

“Australia has given us a lot and we feel like we want to give back. We feel we welcome and that we belong here now. After escaping the conflict in Iraq we are living normal lives and we are trying to contribute to the community,” Osama said.

Part of that contribution was being part of a series on in-language videos filmed last year that explained the workings of the Victorian Parliament.

Osama spoke to the cameras in Arabic to explain what happens in Parliament. He told how the Spring Street building is where Victoria’s laws are made and where our elected representatives debate issues of importance to all Victorians.

He tells a story about how three days after arriving in Australia, Osama went for a walk around the neighbourhood where he was staying with his sister in Melbourne’s north.

“Three neighbours – Australians – came out and welcomed me,” he said.

“They understood I was a refugee and where I was from, I’m not sure how. But they said ‘do not hesitate’ if I needed something to go and ask them. That made me feel very welcome,” he said.

Mr Butti says the incident is emblematic of the welcome he, his wife and two children have received as part of the advance guard of the 12,000 refugees from the Syria/Iraq conflict that the Federal Government has promised to settle in Australia.

He says he immediately felt at ease in Australia and was overcome with a sense of relief.

“The thing that first struck me when I arrived in Australia was the order. In the airport when we arrived I could see everything was organised well, there were signs telling you where to go. There are rules and regulations in Australia and people respect them,” Osama said.

“I knew that Australia would be the new home of my family and a place where they can build their futures and where their dreams can come true,” he said.

“The way of life in Australia reminds me of how we lived in Iraq in the late 1970s and early 80s, everything was calm and safe and the future was clear,” he said.

Osama said that life became intolerable for himself and his family. As Christians, they were the target of threats by extremists.

“After the dramatic circumstances when ISIS entered my country, a lot of things came to the surface. There was a fear among a lot of people in my country, especially the Christians, of what would happen,” he said.

“Even though ISIS did not attack us personally, a lot of things did happen. ISIS began to target Christians.

“And also, because of my work with international companies, I was very afraid. If I remained in my country, I would have been a target,” Mr Butti said.

He said, at the time, he felt very depressed and pessimistic about the future.

“I was not afraid for my life, I was afraid for my wife and children. When you are forced to stay in an area that is not stable, not safe and in very difficult circumstances, you don’t know when you are going to die,” Osama said.

“Frankly speaking, when I went out in the morning in my country, I never knew whether I was going to come back or not, from bombs, from militia attacks,” he said.

Osama said it was an emotional wrench to leave his homeland but he had no option. The family sought temporary refuge in Jordan before being granted a humanitarian visa late last year.

“It is very difficult when you are 50 years old to leave a country where you were born and where you were educated and everything; to leave behind memories, good memories, happy and sad memories. It is hard to leave a place that has been your home,” he said.

“It’s very difficult for me to change at this age but according to my experience and the things I have seen here, the feeling and the services here, I can say I will have a good life here.

“The golden period of Iraq was the 1970s. After that we had the Iran-Iraq War, then the Gulf War. All of my youth years, 35 years, were spent in my country with war and unstable circumstances,” Osama said.

He says he and his family have “won the lottery in being resettled in Australia”.

“I already told the Minister of Immigration (Peter Dutton) in Amman that I’m feeling that we are very lucky in being one of the first four families to come to Australia,” Mr Butti said.

“I don’t have dreams or nightmares because when I came here, for the first two or three days, I really slept well because in my homeland sleeping was something difficult for me.

“It’s very important to me to know my family is safe. It means a lot because when you feel your family is safe and the future is secure; that is the most important thing a father needs from life,” he said.

Mr Butti said that he would like to encourage other refugees settled in Australia to make the most of their good fortune and try to contribute.

“My message is that they are really lucky if they come to Australia because life here is bright and the opportunities to work are great,” he said.

“I would say to them: ‘in order to let the government have the ability to bring more refugees from your country, you need to work and pay taxes – you need to contribute. Otherwise, maybe other families will not get to come here and have the chance to live here in safety’,” Osama said.

And he thanked Australia for giving his family a chance at a new life.

“On behalf of my family I would like to thank the people of Australia and the government for giving me this opportunity to live in this beautiful country. It means a lot for me and my family to consider Australia as a new home for us,” Osama said.