In his own words: Ashraf Doos

3 Feb 2010, 12:11 pm   -   Source: Bryony Jones, SBS
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Chef Ashraf Doos has opened a new branch of the cafe he lost in the Black Saturday bushfires (SBS)

Chef Ashraf Doos has opened a new branch of the cafe he lost in the Black Saturday bushfires (SBS)

Chef Ashraf Doos lost his home and his thriving business in the Black Saturday fires, but escaped Marysville with his family as the flames closed in.

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Chef Ashraf Doos lost his home and his thriving business in the Black Saturday fires, but escaped Marysville with his family as the flames closed in.

A year later, he has re-established his Marysville Patisserie - in Melbourne - and is busy planning to return to the town, building a new home and planning a new branch of the café.

But the past 12 months have been difficult. The family fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and have spent months staying with friends as the boys moved from school to school.

As they look to the future, the family is still haunted by thoughts of what they - and those around them - lost on February 7 last year.

Listen to Ashraf describe the family's escape

"We'd been in Marysville for 10 years. We used to go on holidays there when we lived in Melbourne, and we fell in love with it, so we moved the family up there.

"My wife is a chef as well, so we opened a restaurant. It was very busy, very popular, and we made lots of friends: It was like a big family, the community was very strong there.

"Life was good. It was the best time of my life, until February 7 came along and took everything from me.

"We lost 30 friends, three businesses, our home, we ran out with nothing.

Starting all over again

"After the fire we used to go to a funeral twice, three times a day, at least four funerals a week, for my friends, my kids' friends.

"It drains you, your brain stops working, and you're scared to make decisions in case you're not thinking properly and it's not the right decision.

"It felt as though everything was against us: The town was closed, we were living in someone else's home, wearing someone else's clothes, we had no money to spend because the insurance money was delayed. It was very hard.

"We went to the GP and he said you've got severe depression. I said 'I was happy a month ago - I had everything I wanted: a happy family, the job I wanted, the business was doing well, I was in a nice community' and then in one, bang, it was all gone.

"After a few months my wife and I sat down over a glass of wine and I said 'We have to start again. It's ok, we're still young. Everything is burnt except our name, amd the knowledge we have.'

Thinking positive

"So that's what we did, we came back to Melbourne, to the city, and looked for an empty shop. We opened six months ago and it's been good. We've got our lives back together.

"Every day I wake up in the morning and say 'Today's going to be a good day. Think positive'.

"People say 'You've moved on', but you're never going to move on. I move along, but you can't move on from it, it's there all the time.

"Everyday I remember that day, I remember the people, I remember their birthdays - we used to make cakes for people, so I remember that.

"It's a community - I saw these people every day, and now they're no longer with us, but I remember them everyday.

Hopes for the future

"The sadness is still in my heart. I don't know how long it's going to be there.

"But when I'm in the restaurant, I've got my smiling face on and I just pretend that I've got everything I wanted, but I haven't, I haven’t. Not yet.

"My long term plan is to go back to Marysville and build a small restaurant, and help the community, help the town get back to normal. Well, it's never going to be 'normal', but as normal as we can.

"We know it's going to take time - it's nearly a year now, and that's not even the beginning - it's going to be years and years until we're back on our feet and get comfortable like we were before.

"It feels like everyone's on holiday, and one day we'll all get back to the same town again."


LISTEN to Ashraf Doos explaining how his family escaped the Black Saturday bushfires by clicking below:


Listen!
 

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