Savvas, or Sam as people call him in Australia, was outside his house in Melbourne's south-eastern suburb of Springvale, washing his car one morning when he heard Indian music in the distance.
He turned his head, trying to see where this music was coming from. It was a young man who was walking past. Sam called him twice. The young man stopped, looked back and turned towards Sam.
"I love Indian music because it reminds me of my younger years when we used to go to the cinema," 72-year-old Sam Katakouzinos, tells SBS Greek.
Sam asked if he could have a listen to his music, and the young man shared his headphones with him. As they started chatting, it became evident to Sam that the two men had more in common than just the love for Indian music.
Source: Chris Hopkins
"He said his name was Yunus; he was from Burma and he didn't have a job," Sam says. "I asked him what his job was back home and he said he was cleaning. That was what I was doing as well," recalls Sam who then asked Yunus if he would mind sharing his phone number with him.
Different Backgrounds, Similar Stories
Sam called Yunus two weeks later and offered him a part-time job in his business.
"I wanted to help but I had to test him first," he says.
"The first few times he came to work, I was leaving things behind intentionally at the office - money, my watch, my phone, to see how he would react. He was hardworking, fair and never touched anything."
The two men began spending time together and a special bond formed between them.
"I could see Yunus lost in his thoughts sometimes," Sam recalls. "I asked him what he was thinking about. He wouldn't tell me at first".
Yunus is a 27-year-old Rohingya man living in Melbourne on a temporary visa (SHEV). He has no one in Australia. Eleven of his family members, including his mother and young nieces and nephews, are living in a plastic tent on a steep hill in the Cox’s Bazar refugee mega-camp in Bangladesh.
"It reminded me of my own story, but he has suffered more than I have,” says Sam, who migrated to Australia in 1961 with his mother and three of his ten siblings. Originally from the island of Lemnos, he came after losing his father in a terrible accident right before his eyes.
“I was only 15-years-old. The morning after I arrived in Melbourne I had to get a job to support my family. I didn’t know the language or how things worked here. I was working six days a week, 15 hours a day. People were supportive and I’m glad we made it,” Sam describes, with long pauses between words and a crackle in his voice.
Sam has promised to help Yunus as much as he can and he considers him a family member.
“He has a good heart. We call him son.”
Join our world first documentary made exclusively for Instagram - 'She Called Me Red'. Follow @sbs.online.documentaries on Instagram for one final week of live daily updates from the Rohingya refugee camp and join Yunus as he adapts to his new life in Victoria. Starting October 7.
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