A home away from home

Nadeem and Dr Sumera Amir migrated with their young children from their beloved home of Pakistan to Australia fourteen years ago, moving to Coolamon in 2009 when Sumera took a position as the community GP.

Nadeem recently opened Pak Gallery, a generous space that serves as both a community business incubator and an introduction to Pakistan’s crafts and culture.

“If you really want to live a good life you have to be in a small community – close to nature and fresh air,” Nadeem says. “We had a rural background in Pakistan and came from a village slightly bigger than Coolamon. It was a place like this where everyone knew each other. I like the small community.”

When Sumera took a job as the community GP, Nadeem wanted to leave his own mark on the town. He envisioned a space where small local businesses could display their products and meet each other.

“It’s part of our culture to share whatever we know and whatever we have,” he says. “The Pak Gallery gives me the opportunity to use my knowledge and make myself useful – adding what I can to this community.”

The Pak Gallery is a huge project that has been years in the making. It includes a B&B, a café and restaurant, conference centre and shops that displays a range of locally made and designed products alongside Made in Pakistan products.

“The space has two purposes,” Nadeem says. The first is to be a business incubator for local entrepreneurs where they can display their products at no cost and try them out on the public.”

“Secondly, it is a business for me where I sell things we buy in Pakistan directly from the people who have created them. Every single product I sell has a history. I try to engage people in conversations about these things so they can learn something about my culture – something they may not see on TV.”

It’s this human-to-human engagement that Nadeem treasures most about living in Coolamon and operating a local business.

“I find people on the street very open,” he says. “We have our humanity in common.”