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...
I’ve had polio in my left leg from when I was a child but we never had any qualified doctor to diagnose my condition. Then, when I was 6 years old, we had to flee our little village because of the attacks on Karen people in our area. It was really hard for my dad...
In 2006, I fled from Iran to Syria. After I arrived, I was interviewed by the UNHCR and by Australian Immigration, and accepted as a genuine refugee, as were others like me, who were from the persecuted Arab Ahwaz minority group. But after they approved us, we heard...
My father came to Australia by boat in 2001, just before the government stopped processing asylum seeker visas for refugees who had arrived by boat. Every time I think about that, it just amazes me because if we’d arrived even one month later, our lives would’ve been...
I began to question the existence of God when I was 16. It was a challenge for me, in the family as well as in the community – I had to be very tactful and diplomatic. Then, I heard that some religious extremists had made a list of non-believers to be killed,...
