THREE years ago he was "crazy" with anguish, living each day in fear, desperate to shield his young family from bloodshed and death. 
But Anwar Rostom's fortunes changed for the better 10 months ago when he found out they would be moving to Australia.
"I was in hell. Now I'm in paradise," the father-of-three said yesterday from his new home in Western Sydney. The lawyer gathered his parents and young family and fled the once-thriving city of Homs, in Syria, after incessant explosions and fires tore through his home.
"Once it was a beautiful area. A multicultural city. Muslims, Christians, everyone living together like one family," he said.
"We weren't afraid of anything before the war, but after we were afraid of everything." He knew he had to leave his country to save his children. After 18 anxious months in Lebanon his family received their Australian permanent residency visas.
Mr Rostom is now learning English and working towards practising law again. He hopes to help other refugees adjust to the cultural shift.
And his children have finally stopped crying. At first they came home from school frustrated. They couldn't understand their teachers or their peers.But Mr Rostom said it took just a matter of months for them to adjust, learn English and make friends: "Now they are very happy."