After school, I did a Bachelor degree in Psychology, which was quite unusual for a Hazara girl in Quetta at that time. But my father was a very broad-minded man. He told me to go and study whatever I wanted. Still, when I was ready to start a job he said it was time...
ISIS forced 250 000 Christian families out of their homes in our village in Iraq. If you didn’t leave your house, you would be killed. They were also taking girls, and those girls never came back. My sister and I had been trying to get my parents to leave for a while...
My dad left Iraq after he was called up to be an army doctor under Saddam Hussein’s regime, which meant he would have to be part of either committing or covering up torture. He actually left without telling my mother, as escaping an army conscription was a major...
I was very excited about coming to Perth as a student, but then 2 weeks before I left, my mum was diagnosed with chronic renal failure, and she was still in hospital when I left Burma. So I had only one thing in my mind as I left – to do well in Australia so I...
After doing two Masters degrees trying to ride out the GFC in Ireland and there was still no sign of it ending, I decided to move to Australia to try to start a better life. Growing up, I had always had a fascination with Australia. I think I watched too much Home and...
By the age of 25, I had a great job, my own import business which I was running on the side, my own apartment, a very good car, and a good group of friends. Life was treating me very well. But then all that changed. In 2009, our president was re-elected, but as most...
