Kirushikka

AGE 17

Hey, this is Kirushikka. I am seventeen years old. I was born in Sri Lanka. When I was in Sri Lanka, I lived happily with my parents, brother and relatives. My childhood was awesome. I never experienced any hard times as a kid. I had everything that I could wish for and enjoyed life a lot with my friends and family.

In 2006 the war started again but it wasn’t that bad and my life didn’t change. However in September two years later there was a day that turned my life upside down. That was new to me because until that time I hadn’t experienced war directly. When the war became worse and worse I started to feel the pain of it. I’d never been afraid of war but now I was afraid I’d lose everything in my life. During the war we started to move from place to place. We stayed in each place no longer than a few days. During the war so many people died, including my dad. The third of March 2009 was the day of my dad’s death. When I heard that news, I felt there was a storm in my head.

I started to learn how to live with the pain. I lost so many people during that time. I didn’t have any interest in life. Then I spent six months in a Sri Lankan refugee camp. After a few months, I left Sri Lanka and spent time in some other countries. Then I came to Australia. After that there were many changes in my life and there still are now.

In Australia I have met new people. I am in a very different country and different communities compared to Sri Lanka but I’ve never really felt any differences. My life is going very smoothly, but I am still thinking about my pain and hurt. I miss my dad very much. He was everything to me. I can’t feel any happiness here. I know I am in a beautiful country, there is freedom to speak and there are many good things here but I worry about my community back in Sri Lanka. During the war so many people died, so many lost their families, lost their arms and their legs. How are they going to live?

Sometimes I don’t believe in God. Sometimes I say thanks to Him because at least my mum is with me. Now I have a family of three members, which includes me. In Sri Lanka so many kids lost both their parents and now they are orphans. In the future I want to help them and I want others to help. They need our courage and support. I don’t want any other people in the world to feel the same pain as us. I hope this world will be peaceful one day.