Delaksha

AGE 15

Hello. My name is Delaksha and I was born in Sri Lanka. I am fifteen years old. I want to tell you my story about why I came to Australia.

In my country we have two languages, Sinhala and Tamil. The people of each language are always fighting each other. My own language is Tamil.

When I was five years old I lived with just my mum and my older sister. My father was not with us because someone came one day and took him to jail. There are so many problems in my country. I couldn’t go to school because when I went they said, ‘Where is your father? We want to talk to him.’ I was so sad. My mother also always cried for my father.

When I was seven they released him and my father started a new job, a small drinks job, in Batticaloa City. He had only worked there for one month when the army came to the shop and took him. Always my father had problems. Every day I worried about my father. In my country after 6 pm I couldn’t go outside because the army came and took girls.

When I was twelve years old the army released my father. Then my father said, ‘I’ve got an idea. We don’t want to stay in Sri Lanka. We have many problems here. We have to go to a different country.’ I was happy when my father told us about this idea.

A year later we were staying with our grandma at her home in Ambara. I was thirteen years old. Someone then told my family about Australia. They said many people went to Australia by boat to start a new life. So then in October 2012 my father decided to go with me. Then I was a little bit sad and happy. Sad because I would miss my mother and my sisters. Happy to leave because we had many problems in Sri Lanka.

On 28 October my father and I went to Colombo. Someone took us to a small boat. I was very scared when I saw it. The boat was moving up and down. I could see many people in it. My father hugged me.

I met new friends on the boat and talked about my problems, and they said to me, ‘when we get to Australia we will have a good new life.’ I cried for two days about leaving my mother and my sisters. Every day in the boat I sat on my father’s legs. For four days I ate no food and drank no water. I was like a dead person. After four days I washed my face in the seawater. Then I drank some tea.

I stayed in the boat for about eighteen days. For the last four days we didn’t have water or food. Everyone was like a dead person. Then in the distance we saw one mountain and many coconut trees. Someone said, ‘It looks like an island!’ Many customs workers came to us in an Australian boat then took all the people from our boat. They said to us, ‘You all are in the safe place now.’ Then I was very happy. They gave us food, water, clothes. Then my father told them about our problems.

After six months my mother and three sisters also came to Australia by boat. Now I am so happy. I have a new life.

My family life now is so, so boring!