Refugee Week

A story from a student

I’m a person who doesn’t really know her origin. When some people inquiries about my background, I just take my time thinking about it. I’m a girl who has traveled around the neighboring countries of the place she was born in, seeking protection.

I wasn’t even able to go to school in the country that I was born in due to my parent’s background. My parents broke out of their own country and left behind their families, their people and left the graves of the ones they loved. They don’t even dare to go back and visit. 

My parent’s country is a country where compatriots fight each other and try their best to eliminate one another. Numerous numbers of people break free of that country alike my parents due to problems such as conflict, violence and persecution which gets worse as time passes, soviet invasion, inequality, job opportunities & income, and many more. 

Occasionally this issue makes me feel and think that I was born as a refugee and sought protection and shelter in western countries. I was born in Iran but never felt free or either comfortable calling myself an Iranian because I wasn’t able to do much in that country or grow my character, position, or getting a degree... I couldn’t even get registered to a school because I had no passport due to my parent’s background on account of Iran not wanting any more people belonging to my parent’s country.  That was when my parents decided to move to Pakistan just hoping to get us into a school and provide us with a better life. They succeeded but after a while, Pakistan wasn’t safe anymore. There were bomb blasts and many people got killed. We couldn’t go to school with positive thoughts of being able to come back home safely. Our parents were stressed and worried about losing us on the way to school and home….

There have been many problems that stopped us getting freedom. One of the main problems was that there wouldn’t be any job opportunities available for us after our graduation, which meant we could do nothing to advance our life after all those years of studies and misery and stress of maybe losing our lives. My Dad decided to travel to Australia via boat. He risked his whole life to create a good life and future for us by traveling through those deep and dangerous waters.  No one knew if they would reach Australia safe and alive. 

My dad suffered a lot and had very hard times just to provide us with a better life and spent couples of months of his life in detention when he finally and luckily got free of detention and started working on our case. After many years of waiting, we eventually received our visas and luckily, we are now here. To a safe place full of freedom and opportunities that you could only dream about. There won’t be any stop line for me to describe this country or express my feelings of how grateful I am and about the position I am in today. 

I’m so glad to live here and be a part of this country. I’ve got many wishes and plans for my future that can only be fulfilled by supports I receive in here and the beloved Australians, to advance my position in life.