A week from my 12th birthday, I waited for my mum to come and pick us kids up …
A week from my 12th birthday, I waited for my mum to come and pick us kids up from primary school but she never came. The entire school emptied and I remember just standing there and wondering what was going on. Then we found out that she had been killed in a car...
When I left Pakistan, I was so hysterical my father had to literally hold me up …
When I left Pakistan, I was so hysterical my father had to literally hold me up to coax me onto the flight! Dad had initially applied for our whole family to come to Australia, but was rejected because of his age. However, the letter said, ‘We note your daughter Mary...
Both Imran and I are qualified accountants but for some time we could not get ac…
Both Imran and I are qualified accountants but for some time we could not get accountancy work, despite applying for many jobs. It didn’t matter that we had good qualifications and several years of experience from Kenya. Everyone said we needed Australian experience....
Re-sharing Paul’s incredible story of survival. I’m a holocaust survivo…
Re-sharing Paul’s incredible story of survival. I’m a holocaust survivor, and I’m extremely lucky to be alive. In 1942, out of a population of 90,000 Jewish people in Slovakia, 60,000 were sent to death camps, over a 6 month period. However, because my father was an...
I'm a banking lawyer. I’ve got a very Australian accent. Sometimes people s…
I'm a banking lawyer. I’ve got a very Australian accent. Sometimes people say things to me like that refugees are not really refugees, that they are just business opportunists. I then say, ‘Well, I’m a refugee from Laos, does that change your opinion?’ With that,...
My father wanted me to go to medical school. But I don’t like biology, or bloo…
My father wanted me to go to medical school. But I don’t like biology, or blood. We had arguments. I told him that it was my choice. In the end, I went to study engineering. In my second year, I chose to specialise in power mechanical engineering, where only about 1%...
When I was 8 years old and my brother 11, we used to go to the riverbank every…
When I was 8 years old and my brother 11, we used to go to the riverbank every day after school to collect stones and break them so that we could afford the pens and pencils we needed for school. I was born in Bhutan in 1986. But when I was 5, my family had to flee...
When they were around 11 years old, both my two older brothers were taken by the…
When they were around 11 years old, both my two older brothers were taken by the military into the child soldier program in South Sudan. That happened before I was even born, so I never knew them. My memories of growing up are of war, and constantly moving. Whenever...
I was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was at war for much of m…
I was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was at war for much of my life. When I was 21, my parents and siblings and I took refuge in Kenya at the refugee camp in Kakuma, the biggest camp in Africa. Life was not easy there. Access to food, education and...
I’m from a small village in Malta. It was a great place to grow up. There woul…
I’m from a small village in Malta. It was a great place to grow up. There would often be around 60 kids of all ages playing games like hide and seek, soccer or chasey together. In summer, we’d stay up playing until two in the morning! All the women would be playing...
