Tag inspiration
My husband and I moved here from Nigeria for greener pastures. It was a massive decision for us, because our son was only 11 months old at that time. Also, although I am a lawyer, my qualifications weren’t immediately recognised here, so I had to repeat part of my undergraduate degree, and redo the entire
My family is originally from Afghanistan, but when the Taliban took over, they started the genocide of the Hazara people there. Unfortunately, we are very easy to identify because we have distinctive facial features so it wasn’t safe for us to live there anymore. As a result, just before I was born, my family fled
The area where I grew up in Perth wasn’t very multicultural, and when we arrived from Singapore in the mid-70s, I think it was the Asians’ turn to get bullied. Within the first few weeks we got a letter in the letterbox saying, ‘You dirty Asians, why don’t you fuck off.’ I remember my parents
I failed my English exams in my fourth year of my Finance degree in Colombia. At that time, I had a cousin living in Darwin who suggested I come here to learn English, so I said, ‘Alright. Why not?’ It was very hard for me at the beginning. Sometimes I felt homesick. Still, after 2
My parents were open minded and educated, so I was allowed to go to school in Afghanistan, but they were just small local schools and there were maybe seven levels in the same room. Also, there was always something going on that stopped me from finishing the term. I remember when my year 4 exams
I come from a long line of politically active family members who were active socialists in Chile in the 1970s. So when the coup led by Pinochet occurred, it was inevitable my family was going to be targeted. My uncle was arrested and tortured, then disappeared. And my mother, a young teenager, was followed by
My parents migrated to Saudi Arabia from India for a better life. As a result I was born there, and grew up through the Gulf War. When I was 9, we moved to Canada, and I remember feeling angry because I didn’t understand why we had to leave our extended family and our schools and
Of about 70 people in our family, nearly everyone was killed by the Khmer Rouge. They targeted anyone who could be a threat, who didn’t conform to their ideals, who wasn’t full blooded Cambodian, or who had any education beyond high school, as they believed everyone should be farmers living off the land. My dad’s
I come from a fairly privileged background in Pakistan, as both my parents had white collar jobs. We weren’t really rich though. Whenever we asked for something luxurious, the answer was ‘no’. But they were always prepared to invest whatever it took in our education, as they prioritised that above all else. So after I
When the second civil war broke out in Sudan, my father decided to send my brothers and I to Ethiopia, both for protection from abduction, but also because the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) had said we would receive an education there in refugee camps. At that time, many boys were walking with SPLM soldiers