Dubbo is a long way from Zimbabwe on the African continent - some 12,000 km as the crow flies - but it’s now home to educator Ableman Garwe and his family.

Set to celebrate his 50th birthday next month, Ableman’s journey to central west NSW came after many years travelling and working abroad.

Born, raised and educated in Zimbabwe, Ableman began his career teaching in his home country before emigrating to South Africa where he taught in schools for several years.

Ableman, his behaviour-therapist wife Kundai and children Mufaro and Michaela then moved to Bahrain, an island nation sandwiched between Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the Persian Gulf, and not far from the current political hotspot, the Strait of Hormuz.

“We spent seven years there, and it was a lovely place to live and work, very diverse and very welcoming,” Ableman said of his time teaching in Bahrain. Their youngest child, son Micah, was also born there.

Ableman and his family made the move to Australia in 2023 when they took advantage of a NSW Education Department recruitment program to bring educators to the state.

“In 2023 we decided to make yet another big move, this time to Australia, and so here we are in Dubbo,” he told Dubbo Photo News.

Bahrain is almost the same distance from Dubbo that Zimbabwe is, around 12,000 km.

Ableman now teaches maths and science across all year groups at Dubbo Christian School, a job he describes as “fantastic!”

The relocation process from Bahrain to Dubbo was seamless, Ableman said, enabling the family to settle locally without much fuss. The move has been a big adjustment for his children after their life in South Africa for his two older children, and then in Bahrain for seven years for the whole family, he said, but they have made lots of new friends in Dubbo.

Ableman says Dubbo is on a similar latitudinal level as Zimbabwe and he sees many similarities between the locations in weather and climate. He is happy to be living and working here.

“It's laid back here, which is good. We've lived in metropolitan cities and areas before, and it can be hectic, but in Dubbo it's quite relaxed,” he explained.

“There's no traffic, you can find anything you want, and entertainment is also here.”

For the future, Ableman aims to continue to grow and develop his skills as an educator.

“I'm looking forward to becoming the best that I can be in my chosen career in education, especially with technology, learning the programs that facilitate or use AI for blended teaching, exclusive teaching, and also using modern teaching methodologies,” he said.

With so many places to explore locally and further afield with his family, Ableman has no regrets about making the move to Australia and coming to Dubbo.

“It’s a fantastic place to live,” he concluded.