Mahgul

AGE 19

Do you know why I left my country? What made my family leave our country? Let me tell you the story of my life.

My name is Mahgul. I was born in Afghanistan. We moved to Pakistan as refugees and lived there for eight years until my dad got us visas to join him in Australia.

I’ve had a lot of bad times in my life, which I cannot forget, even though I am now living in Australia. Sometimes I get scared at night when I remember them taking my dad to jail in Afghanistan. They tortured him just because he didn’t listen to them. When the Taliban came to kill my dad, my mum got so worried that she lost one of her babies in her stomach.

There has been fighting in Afghanistan for thirty-five years. That’s a very long time. I feel very, very sad about it. We left our country because of the fighting. We didn’t feel safe. We were not safe. They wanted my dad to fight, but he didn’t want to fight. One night he ran away to Pakistan. He ran away because of us, so that we could be safe and have a better life. Later, my mother, me and two brothers and one sister followed him. My aunty’s family came with us because my uncle had been killed. We ran away at night-time – 2 am – when everyone was sleeping, and we stayed as refugees in Pakistan.

My dad had to leave Pakistan and we had to wait eight years to join him in Australia. Eight years is a very long time. Ask me how hard it was when my dad was not with us! Every time I looked at my mother she seemed to be crying.

When we arrived in Australia it was a very big day for us. I came to Australia in with my family – my mum, my brothers and sisters. We weren’t sad anymore because we were all together with my dad again. Finally we’d arrived in a safe country where I could attend school and do things I was not allowed to do in my own country. When I was in Pakistan they wouldn’t let us kids go to school because we didn’t have a Pakistani passport. I used to say to myself, ‘The day will come that I can be a schoolgirl and wake up early in the morning to go to school.’ I used to cry I wanted to go to school so much.

My life has changed since I came to Australia. In many ways getting an education and being safe here has made me feel good. I do love Australia because it’s the only place I’ve been able to go to school and be educated.

When I was sent to the Intensive English Centre (IEC) I didn’t even know how to write my name. When they gave me a book it made me feel very shy and bad and I said to myself that I’ll try so hard that someday everyone in my family will be proud of me.

My dad always does his best for us. He always says, ‘Go study. You’ve got the chance to study, to be something; make your family proud. Help your people.’ I want to help all poor people around the world – help them to get an education especially girls. I wouldn’t stop helping until every poor child got to go to school. Everyone’s dream is to be rich or have money but my dream is to have money to help poor kids and to help my people in many ways.

The Australian people have accepted us, which my family is very thankful for. They always show respect to us, and respect our religion and culture. They’re always doing their best for people from different cultures. Thank you, Australia, for all the help you’ve given us.

My religion is Islam, which respects and accepts all other religions. Islam doesn’t say you should fight and kill people. There is nothing in Islam that says this, so I don’t know what some Muslims are doing in Islam’s name. Our god, who we call Allah, accepts all religions and He said to change the world by your love, and be peaceful and helpful.