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A young female Refugees' Story
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A young female Refugees' Story We read so much in the newspapers, documentaries on television of the plight of refugees all over the world. I had a dream and in my dream I saw this young girl I had to get up and start writing whilst the muse sat beside me. I have tried to write my short story as through her eyes, I have tried to write as she would have expressed herself. I hope I achieve two things.... 1. That you like the saga this young girl took 2. That it will help you see and understand a little better why they come and how brave and badly treated they are Loreli My name is Jammeya I am 10 years old , I live with my mother and father My three brothers and a younger sister in, Kuzeth, a small village in Afghanistan. To-day we leave everything behind, to-day we commence our journey to our new lives. We are all excited and yet at the same time scared, we are leaving everything behind. We are leaving all, the people we know and love. My grandmother held me tight to her all night, I could hear the steady thump of her heart. She keepy telling me to be brave, but her eyes are so sad. We had been looking at an old book she has treasured for many years It was given to her by an Australian woman who worked for the Red Cross. She and her fellow workers were the ones who had dug the well and put in the taps that made the water so much easier for us to collect. They helped repair our houses that had been damaged by the war that had waged around us. Repairs to the Mosque were also carried out, We the and some of the adults let them stick a thin steel thing they called a needle into our arms, since then we have not gotten sick as much. For a while we even went to school, I loved it there, the teaches told us about a world beyond our mountain village. Sadly the Taliban soldiers returned killed the<b> teachers </font></b>and burned down the school. I managed to save three precious books which my grandmother hid terrified they would be found and we would be punished. Ay night we would take them from their hiding place and read them to each other, we had over time learned them by heart. \ one of the books was about Australia and the strange animals, the rivers, the green grass, a place of freedom where no wars were fought. It was this fact that had swayed my father, to make the long and hazardous journey to this green Island at the other end of the earth. My mother pregnant with, she says a new , for our father my three older brothers Jusef, Mohamed and Abram my younger sister Maraha all smile she said that both my sister and I would be boys. My father has been slowly selling possessions over the last two years, hoping not to arouse suspicion. My uncle who works for the police came to night to tell us someone had informed on my father the soldiers were coming for us to-morrow.. As we left our village my mother was silently crying knowing she would never see her mother, father, brothers and sisters again. We all carried food, water and a change if clothes on our backs plus my father had divided the precious gold coins amongst us all in case we were separated. For three weeks we walked, hiding in caves or in depressions in the rocks, we travelled by night. My mother tried not to show how tired and in pain she was, she knew we had to keep going if we were stopped it would mean torture and death for us all. Whenever we could we refilled out water skins at mountain springs, but they were far apart and so we had to ration our water severely. Abram was bitten by a scorpion, the poison was swift, we buried him under a lot of rocks so wild animals would not despoil his body. We made sure he was buried facing Mecca and in his prayer beads and mat…. His death saddened us all, especially our mother he had always been her special one. Finally we arrived at the port. My father went to find the men who would help us on the next stage of our journey to Australia. We stayed in the ruined house about a kilometre from the town…. We stayed for three days but our father did not return. Jusef said we should leave the house and hide amongst the people of the town and try and find our father. Our mother insisted my sister and I dress as , if the soldiers were waiting for us they would be looking for three boys and two girls not 4 young men. Jusef thought it would be safest for us to wait near the mosque acting like beggars and hopefully gaining some food and precious coins while he searched for our father. We waited for what seemed many hours, when Jusef returned we could tell by his face the news was not good. There was talk in the Suk of a man taken by the soldiers who had tried to escape and had been shot. Jusef said we had to leave, but we must not panic, we had to act as if it was just another day in the markets we must walk slowly as if we were looking in the shops stopping ad bargaining for bread, honey and goats milk. He said father had been betrayed by the men who were supposed to have helped him; they took the money from him as well as the money from the soldiers. We finally arrived in a town, Jusef said we would take the train and try and get to Spain or Turkey and try and get passage on a ship going to Indonesia or Malaysia we would then take the boat to Australia and begin our new lives. Our mother gave birth to her new as she knew she would…. But her body was so ravaged and weakened by lack of food, the harsh journey and grief over our father’s death as well as abram. She made Jusef swear on our family Koran he would look after us that we would all stay together as a family and to make sure we would finish our journey and live in Australia. The next 2 years were a nightmare, so many people hated us when they found out we were from our homeland looking for asylum…. Finally we reached Malaysia Jusef went to the Australian Embassy to book our passage on the boat only to be told we would have to apply for citizenship but it would take many years for us to reach the top of the list. We were forced like so many before us into the terrible camps for those waiting. We were lucky Jusef, Mohamed and I could all speak English and write the language, we were soon in demand to help write letters and translate documents for the camp inhabitants. Sometimes we were paid n money and sometimes in food. Juseph is a very cleaver young man he borrowed a suit and went into town and opened a bank account and put our money there, he chose a bank with a funny name ANZ, he said it was a Australian band, we would need money to begin our new life, plus our money would be safe there and not be stolen by others living in the camp. Once a week we took turns going to the bank, Juseph told us we must always go a different way and at a different time so that people would not know where we were going or why. So each week we put all the coins we earned into our bank account. We had to pretend we did not have money so we would not be attacked. My sister and I also took a job in a rich woman’s house cleaning and doing the washing. She was kind to us and gave us food as well as wages; she also hired Jusef to work in the gardens. In the camp the Red Cross and other care agencies had set up schools to teach us English and also help us so that when we did arrived in Australia we would be able to attend school. We were always tired, but because of Jusef we were not hungry and our bank account was slowly growing. One day Mohamed came back excited, he had gotten a job on a boat, it was used by the Australian government to take the successful people who had made it to the top of the list or immigration. A fishing boat, it took people to Australia. And when it was empty and returning to Australia they would be fishing. He was excited as he would earn a lot of money and on the trip back they would catch fish which would also be sold and he would get a small amount of money for that as well, plus fish for us to eat. He was to leave the next day. Mohamed was gone for over two weeks; we were very worried about him then one day he was back. We could not believe how much money he had and f course fish and other sea creatures we could sell and barter for vegetables grown in the camp. He made three more trips, however on his return on the last he said He had arranged a good price for us all to go to Australia. He and Jusef would go as crew and me and my sister as passengers. We would cook for the crew and so our passage money was not as large as the others. Poor Jusef and Mahara were both terribly sea sick, it did not help that 200 of us were crammed on the boat…. There was little food or water, the boat kept leaking we spent most of our time with anything that would hold water tipping it back into the ocean…. Some of the men used whatever they could fashion into fishing poles and hooks to try and catch fish for us all to eat. There was excited chatter land could be seen, but then a large boat was seen coming towards us….. The crew and the captain started screaming at us to get off the boat, jump into the water and swim to the land we could see…. We were terrified most of us could not swim. The crew started hitting us and forcing us over the side of the boat…. Jusef and Mohamed tried to stop them and were hit so hard jusef was unconscious and Mohamed had a broken arm….. Mohamed yelled to us to grab the large drum that had held the water. We did it was not easy as we were so wek and it was so heavy but our fear gave us strength. Mohamed dragged Jusef with him and we all fell into the water, Mohamed had also brought some rope and tied us together and around the drum. We saw so many of the people trying to keep afloat, to keep their ’s heads above the water. The fishing boat tried to make a run for it…. I do not remember much until I awoke in a bed on the strange big ship. My two brothers had survived but sadly Mahara had drowned…. Only 30 of the 200 survived, many taken by what we were told were sharks or had drowned. Then we were told we would be taken to an island where we would stay till it could be proven we were eligible for asylum. They told us we had broken the law by not waiting our turn. No matter how we explained we had papers from the Australia granting us citizenship, it did not make any difference, we found out that the papers we had paid $20,000 dollars for were fake and the passports we had been issued with were not true ones. We argued how this could be, the men had papers saying they were from the Australian Government and our names were on a list of people who had been approved. We stayed on Christmas Island for six months then we were brought to Australia to a detention centre. We could not believe this was the land we had tried so hard to reach… We were surrounded by barb wire fences, the houses were small and hot and the food was not good, people were always fighting, we were so cramped people were getting sick or so sad they just sat not moving not talking… We did however got to attend classes every day, our English was very good now, our<b> teachers </font></b>said we were good students,. One day we were brought to the Manager of the Camp’s office, we were s frightened, whenever you were called to see the Manager you disappeared never to be seen again, it was rumoured they were sent back to their homeland. There was a lady there with one of the<b> teachers. </font></b>Jusef had entered an essay in a competition and he had won. The lady had been on the judging panel and had been so moved by his story, she and her husband had applied to the department of ’s’ services as well as the immigration and Foreign affairs departments. They told us they wanted t foster us…they explained it was like being a relative and looking after us till we were old enough to look after ourselves. She asked Jusef for permission to do so and if we would like to come and live with her, she explained that Juesf was now the head of our family and had to give his approval. I am now 15 and I am in high school, Jusef is now at University studying to be a doctor, Mohamed studying to be a lawyer he wants to be an international lawyer and try and help other refugees. I do not know what I want to be s yet…. Martha our foster mother says I have a talent for writing; I would like to be a reporter/writer and tell the stories of the thousands of refugees just like myself and my brothers. I worry about my family who still live in Afghanistan, we have been to the Embassy in Canberra to try and get news of them, we are still waiting, but we have been promised the names have been given to Australian soldiers and if they are in our village they will try and seek information for us. Since we have lived here we have learnt so much, my brother and I are considered to be the lucky ones, and yes in some ways we are but we have paid such a heavy price for this luck. Martha and Dennis our foster parents have been wonderful to us, encouraging us to study and also to help us, treating us as if we were their own we have grown to love and trust them both. We all want to try and set the record straight for both refugees and the people of Australia. For the refugee not to listen to the men who come telling their lies about the Australian government welcoming us to come and help populate parts of Australia as farmers, teachers, doctors etc. …. Not to give the terrible men any money when they demand huge amounts of money to pay for administration costs and to purchase dwellings and places in schools for their . To the Australians who think we are criminals for supposedly breaking the law and not waiting…. They have to be educated into how bad, how afraid we were, and why families left all they knew and loved behind and made the dangerous long journey. We are lucky we survived but our survival has taken a heavy toll on us, we lost our childhood, we witnessed things that or adults for that matter should never have to witness or live through. Please people of Australia please look at us, we are no different to you, we are human beings, and we love our parents, our relatives, brothers and sisters. We want what you want a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, a good education so we can gain employment and be good citizens.. Yes we worship a different God, but in many ways he is like Jesus, teaching us to treat our fellow man with courtesy and to help those less fortunate than ourselves. To live in a country where there is no war, where we can sleep at night feeling safe… yes we are just the same as you. 
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We have it so good here. We should be thankful. Cum to my blog and respond.  Have a great kissing fun time. 
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