Farah Al-Dabbas was 22 years old before she felt like her life could really begin.

At the age of three her family left their home in Baghdad, displaced by war in Iraq, and then spent 17 years as refugees in Jordan and Malaysia.

They were registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, added to the long list of people seeking safety in a new country.

But they never knew whether they would be granted a happy ending or stuck in limbo forever.

"All those years that passed I never had time to think about what my future would be like," she said.

"I never thought that I would have a future."

The family was advised that splitting their application might see Farah and her mother Siham Al-Naseri resettled faster.

Farah Al-Dabbas and her mother Siham Al-Naseri waited a year for her brother and father to join them in Australia. ( Supplied: Farah Al-Dabbas )

Her mother initially resisted but eventually relented and the pair were resettled in Geelong.

They endured an agonising year-long wait to see if Ms Al-Dabbas's father Abdul Kareem and older brother Fahad would be able to join them.

But in 2016 they received news the pair had been granted a visa and they could finally resume life as a family.

"Seeing them in the airport, there's this line where you can't cross but I crossed it. I just saw my dad and I don't know what happened," Ms Al-Dabbas said.

"I could hear people saying you should go back because I would be fined, but I didn't know and I didn't care really, it's my dad and they don't know the story.

"It was a really happy time. That's when I felt that our life started."

Simple things like getting an ID card, being able to go into a bank or having keys to their own rental house were things they treasured.

"When I came to Australia I saw stars for the first time. I saw a bright sky, more open," Ms Al-Dabbas said.

"I really never admired or looked at the sky because we really never had those opportunities. We were putting our heads down trying to hide and never really able to look up.

"Going out at night time was never a possibility for us."

The family is making a new life in Australia. ( Supplied: Farah Al-Dabbas )

Ms Al-Dabbas now works as a student support worker at Diversitat, an organisation helping refugees and migrants in Geelong.

On Friday she will be the keynote speaker at a large Refugee Week gala dinner, one of many events planned across the country.

Her parents will be part of the team preparing dinner for the guests.

While the family is still getting used to life in Australia — her parents are volunteers at an op shop and her brother is studying commerce at Deakin — for the first time they do not feel like they are living in the shadows.

"It's not my country yet but it's a place I can call home," she said.

"It's not a fear of saying I don't know where I live because I don't know if I'm going to be here or not.