by nhoa | Jan 9, 2021 | Uncategorized
My parents were very educated so they wanted me to go to school. But when I was around 10, school in Afghanistan was stopped because of the war. My neighbourhood was in a war zone, and there was always the noise of guns and bombs. We hid ourselves in basements so we...
by nhoa | Jan 1, 2021 | Uncategorized
As a child, I witnessed all the chaos that came with the war in Iraq – civil unrest, people going missing, people dying. Also, as Christian Assyrians, we experienced religious persecution, where the militia would come to your door and tell you either to convert,...
by nhoa | Dec 25, 2020 | Uncategorized
(1/2) In 1974, I came straight from Mexico City – one of the biggest metropolis in the world – to literally the back of Bourke! At my interview with the Australian embassy, the Consul asked me where I was going, and I said, ‘Oh, Bourke.’ I remember he stopped writing,...
by nhoa | Dec 25, 2020 | Uncategorized
(2/2) Over time, we became really good friends, but he was so consumed with work that I thought that nothing was ever going to happen. So after a year, I decided to go to uni. The week I got accepted, I told him, ‘I'm going to Mitchell College in Bathurst.’ But...
by nhoa | Dec 19, 2020 | Uncategorized
We had expectations of Canberra being a pretty city by a lake, but when we were taken to Civic in the centre of town, there was nothing much there, and we all said, ‘Where is Canberra?’ I was one of 150 German carpenters and joiners chosen to come out to Australia to...
