Sally

AGE 13

Hello, my name is Sally. I am thirteen. I have two brothers and one sister. I am the eldest. I like to dance because it makes me feel better and helps me to not remember things. I also like to draw.

When I was little my family and I lived in Baghdad with my dad’s family. There was a war in Iraq and we were scared to go out. There were so many problems in our home because my grandma didn’t like living with my mum. My mum and dad were always arguing and I was always crying. Then my dad’s family moved to Australia just before I was nine. After that, we moved to Lebanon. I was too young so I couldn’t understand everything that was happening between my parents. My dad went to the UN for help. At that time, my family was living in one room together.

I had so many friends – about fifty friends. They were all living in the same street as us. Every day we went to school together and I loved them so much, and still miss them. One day my mum told me we had to leave and run away .I was so sad to hear that but I was also happy. I was only about ten years old. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my friends. I was really sad. We went to a shelter. It was so big. My brothers and I hardly ate because the food was disgusting. We were with about two hundred people – all living in the same shelter. There were mostly girls but also some little boys my brothers’ ages so every day we played together. It was fun with them. But every night at bedtime I sat on my bed and cried for my dad and friends. I was eleven years old. I was always fighting with my brother because he was so annoying. My mum was angry every day when we came back from school and when we didn’t eat. I was always fighting with my mother because she didn’t let us do anything. All the while, we were waiting for the UN to tell us when we could travel to Australia.

When we came to Australia we found everything so different: rules, people, clothes, community. When I came here I changed my style and everything because it was a new world for us. At first we lived in my mum’s family’s house. It was very small, so we had to find a big house for all of us. And now we are living together happily but sometimes my mum doesn’t let me go out with my friends. I love my friends very much because they are very friendly and kind to me. I am Christian and my friends are from different countries but I don’t care because we are all people and that’s all that counts. I really love Australia so much because here you are free and you can do whatever you want.

My mum is a very sad woman but I really love her and thank her because she’s done so many things for my siblings and me. Sometimes, though, I remember my past and cry.