When Mansoor Ahmed Subhani thinks about raising his children in Australia, what he remembers most is what was missing. Back home in Pakistan, there would have been grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins. There would always have been someone to help, someone to visit, someone to share the load.
On the Central Coast of New South Wales, it was just Mansoor, his wife Mahwish, and their two young children. Mahwish worked daytime shifts as a physiotherapist. Mansoor managed the children — Minha, then just over a year old, and Muhammad, who arrived not long after. Without permanent residency, the family was not eligible for the childcare subsidy that would have made daycare accessible. So the days were his.
“I was missing my mum. I was wishing if my mum would be here, or if they would be in a bigger extended family setting, it would have been easier.”
What he had instead was the park. In early 2022, Mansoor was at a playground near their home in Watanobbi when Natalia from Mosaic spotted the little girl and her dad, handed them a brochure, and told him about a playgroup running every Friday at the nearby community centre. It was walking distance from their house, and they went the same day.
"After one or two sessions I felt quite comfortable and found it very helpful for the children," Mansoor says. "They were interacting with different faces, different persons. That was the first experience for them interacting with someone outside the home."
What began as a Friday morning playgroup quickly became something much bigger. The children learned to play alongside others. Mansoor found practical support, parenting advice and the chance to build new skills like first aid and CPR training, and a swimming course that gave him confidence around water for the first time.
“I think there are so many other things (that we learnt at the workshops) which we use unconsciously, but we don't realise.”
The results showed in his children. When Muhammad started daycare, his teachers noticed immediately. "The teachers were surprised that this little boy adjusted so nicely," Mansoor says.
Today, Mansoor still recommends the playgroups to other parents. When he hears about a father struggling on his own, he tells him where to go. On more than one occasion, he has walked alongside someone on their first day. Because he remembers what it felt like to arrive knowing nobody.
“It's nothing to be shy about asking for help. It's actually being a brave parent.”
What Mansoor found through Mosaic was not just a playgroup. It was the village he thought his children would grow up without.