My parents had a good life in Burma, in the upper echelons of society, with a huge house and many servants. But my older brother was born with a rare blood disorder, and my parents were told he wouldn’t live long due to the quality of medical care in Burma. Also in...
It took us 3 near death attempts to escape communist Vietnam. The first time, I was six years old. Of the three boats, one made it to resettlement, one completely sank, and ours started sinking, until luckily 5 hours later a fisherman’s boat came by and rescued us. My...
One of my earliest experiences in Australia was having my first Tim Tam in the hotel room in Adelaide after a very long flight. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, I have to keep the other one for my husband!’, but then after an hour, saying, ‘Nah’, and eating it myself!...
At primary school, I was always trying to fit in, but I stood out for a number of reasons, and was often teased. First, I was the only Greek kid in my mostly Anglo Australian class. Whenever my parents came to school, I was very embarrassed because they spoke Greek....
I came to Australia by boat when I was 9 years old. Our family had to leave Iraq when their lives were put in danger by Saddam Hussein for political reasons, and we heard that this was the only immediate option for us to get away. At that time, we’d never heard of...
