When Abulla Agwa voted in his home country of Ethiopia, it was often done while standing at the end of a gun barrel.
"When we went for election, there was vote rigging, intimidation and sometimes you have to vote through gunpoint," he said.
But when he spoke with 702 ABC Sydney ahead of last Saturday's election, the former refugee and resident of Blacktown was looking forward to putting pencil to ballot paper.
"In Australia, you are free, you make your own decision by yourself," Mr Agwa said.
"I'm ready for this election to see a stronger Australia."
He said he wanted to see the economy improved and better programs to help families in need.
Some of those families are among the thousands of refugees Mr Agwa has helped resettle in western Sydney.
He works as a coordinator at SydWest Multicultural Services which holds information sessions, English classes and organises social groups which reduce isolation and help refugees settle more successfully in Australia.
Surviving decades of persecution
Mr Agwa knows first-hand the struggle many go through to set up life in Australia.
In Ethiopia he was imprisoned five times — the first being at the age of 16 when he was beaten for three days and had to take his Year 10 exams behind bars.
Later, he was arrested several times after calling for basic human rights and for speaking out against the government where he was a senior bureaucrat and later an independent politician.
"When I came out of prison, my daughter was saying, 'who are you?'
"When I called her to come see me she was running away from me because she thought I was some stranger from somewhere."
In 2001, Mr Agwa fled to a refugee camp in Kenya though his family continued to be persecuted by authorities who believed he would soon return to them.
His wife, son and daughter eventually joined him and they were accepted in Australia under humanitarian visas in 2004.
The family became citizens two years later.
Giving back to the community
At first, Mr Agwa had to undergo months of counselling to help him overcome the trauma and memories of being tortured.
He has since retrained and now has several qualifications including a bachelor in community welfare and a masters in social services.
His son and daughter will soon be graduating from university with bachelors of information technology and nursing respectively.
Their achievement as well as his own has been something Mr Agwa is immensely proud of.
"I realised the best thing is, forget what's happened in the past and focus on future life," he said.
"So my message in general is more about people connecting and working very hard to settle successfully to build this wonderful nation and contribute to the country."
Mr Agwa was recognised in 2013 by the Celebration of African Australian Inc for his contribution to the community and received a Pride of Australia Fair Go Medal in 2015. Read more here
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