Student Reflections

At the second birthday celebration of the SAIL Program a group of the older SAIL students presented their creative writing.
They had written it as a group and it was based around the theme of "The River".
Their writing tells some of the stories of their journeys to Australia

The River

HILMA
Here I am writing a song about a river.
If you listen up you just might get a little shiver.
So listen up and hear what I have to say
about this river, so listen up Hey!

DALIA
River is like a life
Rivers are long and wavy
Just like life is
Life is not straight
Life is wavy just like a river
River, river, my life is like a river.

DHAL
My life began from 3 different places and just like a river I lived in 3 different countries. The first country was Sudan, my home country. 3 years later I moved to Egypt. Egypt was a very bad country and it stank. I didn’t like it at all.

The crowded streets of Egypt were dirty. The people never look after the streets, they put all the rubbish there, like old food that has been there for weeks, old nappies, sewerage, dog poo. When people walk and pass in the streets, they say “what the hell is that”, and they do nothing about it, just walk away and it keeps building up and up.

ACHOL
I started my journey in Ethiopia.
The wars made us run away.
We walked for 3 days without eating.
We only drank water from the ground.
Someone picked us up,
And took us to Kenya.
We stayed in Kenya for 8 years.

DALIA
I was born in Ethiopia. Ethiopia was a beautiful country with lots of mango and fruits. It has many rivers too. I love it when it rains in Ethiopia because the rain makes little rivers that we play in. It has little fish that we used to catch and play with.

TINA
My life rose in Ethiopia, too young to remember what was there.
I travelled to Kenya and my path was crooked
We moved three times around the place

School in Kenya is like a forest, lots of trees,
Grass, noisy kids and bad teachers
The school building was made of red bricks

HILMA (DALIA)
I went to Kenya when I was 5 years old. It was hard going to another country but we got used to it. In Kenya people are a little bit kind but you can never wear gold whether it is night or day because of the robberies everywhere.

ACHOL
River in Kenya
I was playing on the river bed.
We were throwing stones.
Suddenly the muddy water came rushing
down the river. My heart was beating.
I was scared, and I ran home.

ATER
Hot, rapid, angry river runs down my throat and
Makes me shiver. The sun goes down and a moon awakes,
The river flows and shapes a snake.
The waves rise up and a tide,
the river rages on and destroys a village.
The river calms when the sun comes up.
The spirits rise to show the river never sleeps

TINA
then I travelled to Egypt,
there were many rocks in the river, problems, difficulties
And friends, cousins, aunties, fun, icecream, yummy food,
beautiful churches and schools

MONICA
Love is to life, what rain is to the river
The more there is the better it gets
Just like the river, love grows the longer it flows
A river without rain is like life without love

ACHOL
My uncle sent us a form so that we could come to Australia and we went to Nairobi. At night it is so beautiful in the city. The lights were so bright that they sparkled and the city glowed. It was so different from where I had lived.

I had never been in a plane before. I was so excited I couldn’t wait to get in. the seats were so comfortable and I saw my first TV. We arrived in Australia at 3 in the morning. We were freezing and we had to wait until my old uncle came.

In Australia it was very cold. We went to my uncles house. I knew no-one. I missed my friends. When I went to sleep, I felt like I was still in the airplane. I felt like I was still moving.

The first few weeks we went to school. I met a friend from Ethiopia. I did not know how to speak English. She tried to understand me and helped me to speak English.

The only thing I like about Australia is that everyone is friendly. I miss my grandfather who is still in Sudan.

TINA
so we flew straight to Australia
and here I stayed in a pool of family and friends
cousins, fun, icecream, yummy food,
beautiful churches and schools

in the future the river flows on to university
and it will continue to flow into a job.

DHAL
7 years later I moved to Australia. I said to myself that Australia will be worse than Egypt, but now I say to myself that my dad made the best decision to come to Australia. Australia is a very good country and is the best in the world.

My life feels like a river that comes from different places. There are so many things that make up my life: school, love, friends, work, taekwon-do.

HILMA (ADHEL)
River, river, carry me on to the loving world.
River, river, carry me on to the bright sky.
River, river carry me to a different world.
River, river, it holds me.

NYIBOL
The river is running straight, suddenly it crashes
but now its all peaceful, forget the smashes
The river feels like an angel from the sky
It makes me happy, happy all the time
When I see its beautiful face
I lose my worries and I am filled with grace
When I look at the river it smiles
Because I am smiling
It makes me happy.

MONICA
Hi, I’m Monica. I have travelled so many times that my life is like a river. My life began in Sudan. I lived there for 4 years. My family and I moved away from my mother country to start a new life in Egypt and I had lots of friends that I would hang out with.

My family and I travelled by aeroplane to Australia. In Townsville, when we finally arrived at our new home, it was better but needed a lot of work. We lived next to a swimming area, so we went for a swim every Saturday. Then my sister and brother moved to Brisbane so we thought of moving there too. We liked it in Brisbane so we stayed for 4 and ½ years.

When my brother came to Melbourne he liked it here. He was studying architecture and medicine at uni. My parents thought that our family should be together so we moved here. I think we will be living here as long as we want. My life is like a river travelling.

DHAL and ATER
Rivers;
Noisy, fast, bubbling

Rivers
Stinky, dirty, filthy

Rivers
Long, wide, flowing

Rivers
Beautiful, quiet, flowing

Rivers
Crashing, splashing, ripping

Loving, caring, relaxing river.

HEKIMA
Comoros 2001

I was going to my country with my sister. The airplane was so amazing because it had TV. I thought it was going to be scarey but it wasn’t so bad.

All my relatives were waving at the airport. I didn’t know them until my sister told me. My aunty was tall. She had brown eyes and short hair. Her clothes had African patterns; zig zags and circles. It was so colourful that my eyes were hurting.

I went to visit the relatives I had never known. I never knew that my uncle was a president. I knew that if I got to meet him he would welcome me into his house.

Finally the day for returning to Australia came. It was so sunny I started to cry, but I wasn’t crying because of the sun, but because I was happy that I had met all my relatives.

The area was scarey because the cemetery was on the side of the road. I was imagining that I was going to fall into a hole.

HILMA
The river of dreams
The river of dreams never stops
Theres so many things you can imagine
So many things that can happen
If you come with me you will see
That the river of dreams is as great as can be.

GROUP (gather around microphones)
Tina: The river makes you listen to your heart

Dalia: Beat on and on each and every day

Hilma: When I am sad I sit by the river

Monica: It makes me happy, like love, just to be

Achol: Love makes the heart beautiful

Nyibol: Like the river, a joy to see

Ater: Like love the river flows searching for a magical life

Dhal: The river of love moves on and on until it finds its goal

Hekima: Just like the river finds the sea
The river of love discovers its soul.

Everyone: The river is a map, an image of life
It cures and shows the way

GROUP
RiverRap
The river is full of junk
The chemicals make the fishes drunk
The weeds grow big and steal the life
They suck the air and we’re in strife

So what the hell we gonna do?
Boo-hoo! No-one seems to have a clue.
Its up to us to do what we do
Lets clean the river, come on crew!

Lets think of the future and the children too
If I can do it, then you can to.

DHAL
The river makes me believe that everything in my life goes smoothly.
It tells me to never look back and always to look ahead of me and
do what ever I want to do.
Rivers.

-:the end:-

Tina: My name is Tina and I am 14 years old
Tolien: My name is Tolien and I am 15 years old
Dalia: My name is Dalia and I am 16 years old

Tina: We are here to tell you about how we had to leave our homes in Africa and come to live in Australia.

Dalia: I am from Sudan but I was born in Ethiopia. When I was three we had to leave Ethiopia because of the war. We had to make a dangerous journey across the sea. My little sister had just been born so my mom tied her onto her back. Two uncles held her there so she didn’t fall into the water. We had to eat meat without salt, we had to hide and sleep in the bushes with mosquitos all around us and other dangerous animals. Every day the war came closer, so everyday we had to run to a different place. We walked a long way. It is like walking from Melbourne to Sydney. We had to walk on foot, there are no cars in the jungle. At last we found a helicopter that took us to safety in Kenya.

Winnie: I am from Sudan. We had to leave because of the war. When we were leaving I thought we were just going to Egypt for a holiday. My aunt and grandmother and mum were crying, but I didn’t know why. I didn’t know the truth. I learned it in Egypt, that I had to forget about my family and my people. I felt very sad when I knew that I was not allowed to go back again where I lived, where I spoke my own language.

Tina: For a while we lived in Egypt. It was a racist country, they teased us because of our colour. The day we were leaving to come to Australia, there was a big party. We had to dress up. When the taxi’s arrived to take us to the airport, I was missing. I had gone with my cousin to take some photos. When I came back, I found that my family was waiting for me. They almost missed the plane because of me! But now we are in a free country, Australia.

Winnie: When I first came to Australia, I felt like I didn’t belong. I didn’t want to learn English. I have learned now, but its hard. I guess that’s the way of life, some people live in a peaceful place and others like me have to suffer.

Dalia: I love Australia and the people, I love everything about Australia. I am so happy that I am free, but I am still sad because I left my family and relatives over in that bad country. Free, free, Australia, thankyou for saving my life from hunger, war and other sad things.

Tina: I am happy to live here but I feel sad about all the friends I left behind. We wish that there was room in this country for all the children who are hurt by war. We wish they could all live here in Australia with us.