ࡱ> {}zg bjbjVV *r<r<**8D<.$PPPPP+++$R"+++++PPaaa+*PPa+aaaPPۜUa0.a"?""a"a8a+++a+++.++++"+++++++++* J: I WANT TO LIVE FOREVER Her lilting intonations, her elegant scarf with adornments, her warmth and the lovely assurance of this woman, made this interview precious. Escaping persecution in her home country, this woman looks towards a brighter future for her son and her family. She has the magnanimity and perspective to allow others the freedom to judge her by her dress since freedom of speech and thought is an integral part of why she came to Australia. Her hardships have given her a strength and determination to forge ahead, accepting difficulties as an unavoidable part of life. This is Farahs story.27 It doesnt worry me if you call my home country Iran or Persia, because Im not Persian, I am Arabic. My first language is Arabic, my second language is Persian and my third language is English. I come from south-west Iran which we left one year and a half ago. I came here with my son and my husband. It is brilliant here. I left Iran because I want to live forever. I dont want to go back there. I want the peace and security, everything that is here in this country. Since I have a child, I had to ask myself, Where do I want my child to grow up? And of course the answer is, I want him to grow up in security and in peace. Coming to Australia is a big thing for my son and for my future. 27 Names have been changed in this story to protect the interviewee. 150 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 150 22-Aug-13 2:03:06 PMI WANT TO LIVE FOREVER My mum and dad have passed away but my husbands family is still over there, which upsets me. They have a good life: money, house, car, everything, but they are not in peace and, maybe at any time, war may break out, or something like that. Thats why I feel so upset. I want them to be here with me because I have no family and I miss them a lot. At the moment we are not able to sponsor them, because we are still new here in Australia. You have to wait maybe two and a half years until you get Australian citizenship, which entails doing a test and saying our allegiance. I am a teacher-aide at this amazing school, Meeting Place College I love it. My husband is a student studying civil engineering at TAFE, which is very different from what he did back in Iran where he was a real estate agent with his own business. I am twenty-six years old; the average age for marriage in Iran, five years ago, was around 20-22; now it is perhaps 24-25 years. Arranged marriages in Iran go like this: your family does not choose they just say, Someone wants to write to you. See him and speak with him, to see if you like him. I will go out with him and if I like him, it might be possible. If I dont like him, I dont want him. We dont consider each other as girl-friend or boy-friend until we are sure; my familys role is just to introduce him to me. My marriage was like this. I have had a lot of difficulties in my life, but I try to be strong, really strong, and I am. I was just seven years old when my mother passed away and I had a step-mother. She was good but a step-mother is not like your mother. When I was sixteen years old, my father passed away from a heart attack. Both of my parents were young, very young, when they died. After this, I lived with my sister, my brother and my step-mother and then, when I was eighteen, nearly nineteen, I got married. 151 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 151 22-Aug-13 2:03:06 PM Wallaby Stew | Di Perkins The biggest challenge I had was when I came here to Australia. Still now, Im working really hard to conquer this challenge, because its an enormous challenge. To leave your country, to leave your family, to leave everything you have: your house, your money, everything you have. To come here, to a different culture, different people, different religion: you know, everything is different and therefore it takes a lot of adjustment. I just want to be strong, to continue my study- ing. I have a really difficult life now because all the time I am working, studying, and sometimes I have no time to think about anything in my life. I just want to continue my study- ing, to be strong in this country, because, you know, some problems you face are difficult to jump over, but I will do that. I will be strong. Yeah, there is a lot of discrimination here because I wear a scarf, but I dont mind. I never thought about that issue; I never thought about it. I have to concentrate on myself because I want to be happy. I dont mind what others say and I cant stop others thinking whatever they want. Yeah, I hear people commenting and I just smile. Because I come from a country where there are restrictions of freedom, I think, They are free to think whatever they want; they are free. I dont mind because I know that I want to be free to think whatever I like. I came to this country for freedom. I have had a lot of difficulties in my life but have never thought about them. I just accept them, let them pass very easily, not making them bigger or tougher. Ok, I will say: I have this problem but, hey, thats life. I ignore anything that hurts me. People like to hurt others but, in the end, its their life. In years to come, I believe that Australia will be a more accepting society. I want my little boy to grow up in an accept- ing society; that is specifically why we have come here to 152 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 152 22-Aug-13 2:03:06 PM I WANT TO LIVE FOREVER give him a better chance. I am studying civil engineering, in the first year of a four-year course the same as my husband. It is perfect! I am busy but I am trying to be strong. I leave home at 7 am and arrive back home sometimes at 6 or 9 pm. When I think about ten years time: Ill have my engineer- ing degree, Ill be 36, my little boy will be fifteen and almost finished high school. I want to be a millionaire, but not just for myself. I dont want to live in a big house, with three or four cars or spend a lot of money. I want to have a simple life but I want to be a millionaire, not for myself, but for people who have no money. There are many people in my country and in other countries who have no money. There are 100,000 people homeless in Australia 100,000. This is a lot too many. I have a good network of friends here and I am really strongly Islamic. The difficulties I encounter in my life, you couldnt imagine, you would not believe them, but I never think about them as difficulties. I think, Its all okay; its all right. Things are difficult for me, but some people have many more difficulties than I have. I never internalise them as difficult; I just let them pass. I believe, My life has been determined here. God will look after me. I have no worries. I have an at-peace philosophy to be good with the people and to live a simple life. Life is not difficult we make it difficult. I just make life easy, and it goes easily. This is my advice to young ones. Whenever I talk with students and they say that their mother is not here, they have difficulties in their life. I tell them, I have more challenges in my life. You think Im a happy person and you think I have no problems in my life. No, my life is tougher than your life, but I dont think of it as tough. I just am determined to get through it. When you 153 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 153 22-Aug-13 2:03:06 PM Wallaby Stew | Di Perkins have been toughened up with hard circumstances, anything new that is thrown at you, you think, Well, I survived the last lot, this is not going to faze me. No-one lives without problems: this is life. Thank God, our problems are not so important. They are problems but its all right. It will always work out. Farahs words of wisdom could be the blueprint for a policy of acceptance and integration within this country. 154 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 154 22-Aug-13 2:03:06 PM I AM CARRYING THE DREAMS OF MILLIONS Resourceful, tenacious and infinitely wise, this young man stands head and shoulders above his peers, because his primary goal in life is to alleviate the suffering of others. His positive energy, his keen appreciation of freedom and his philosophic capacity to balance lifes priorities, characterise this man as quite remarkable. This is Khaliqs story.28 Icame from central Afghanistan in late 2000, travelled for a while, had a very bad journey, got here and then had to wait for seven years for a visa. It was quite a nightmare. I belong to the Hazara people: the atrocities and the target killings in Pakistan have been going on for some time, but for seven years it has been quite devastating large numbers and increasing. I left Afghanistan when it was in chaos. There were a lot of killings by the Taliban; they were taking the boys, the whole nation was under their control, except one part of Afghanistan that was controlled by Ah-med shan Massud. The Taliban imposed such indescribably hard rules that women are not allowed to go to school; the boys in my age, about twelve or thirteen, who were big enough to carry an AK47, would be taken away to be trained for the war. My mother was not going to let that happen so she had to send 28 Names have been changed in this story to protect the interviewee. 155 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 155 22-Aug-13 2:03:06 PM Wallaby Stew | Di Perkins me off whether I would lose my life or survive, that was a different story. I have two older, married sisters and two younger, single brothers. After me was a girl who was killed by the Taliban. One brother has just finished his teaching degree and the other one is studying science in that part of Afghanistan. The whole point is to study and become someone, but study- ing itself imposes such a big risk you have to travel in places controlled by the Taliban. I lost my father when I was very little, about seven. Losing your father was such a dras- tic change from being just a little kid, (physically little), but mentally fast grown up. Suddenly I was going to school, yet becoming the man in the family, to look after the farm and everyone. It was a change that I am still trying to catch up on. Obviously, women couldnt go and speak to the Taliban and the Mujahideen about issues concerning the treatment of us and the treatment of women in the village instead it fell to me to go and speak about these issues. Before I left Afghanistan, I had some internal problems and travelled to Iran for some operation. I returned to Afghanistan for about six months and it was still in chaos. My mother said, You cant live here, you have to leave the country. I think my mum spoke to the people smuggler and they organised payment in advance. It was an exercise in trust by my mother, who hoped I was going to be safe. Mum always tells me that she feels guilty about sending me at that young age. She was not sure whether I would survive or die, or what would happen to me, but I had to go. I did talk to Mum about the people-smuggler payment and she said, Can we not go to that topic? I travelled from Gazmi, Central Afghanistan, to Kandahar and then to Spin Boldak, which is the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan to Quetta. We walked 156 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 156 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM I AM CARRYING THE DREAMS OF MILLIONS that border track for about three nights with two people one was young like me. We met with a people-smuggler who instructed us, You walk this footpath (indicating a direc- tion on the mountain) it is the only way you can walk by foot. When you get to the other end, I will meet you with a car. He said, If you lose yourself in between, it is not my responsibility too bad for you. I lost one of my shoes and all of one leg was just numb below the knee. All kinds of sticks and stones went into my foot and I couldnt feel anything until I got to Quetta. In Paki- stan I did not know anyone so it was quite hard but my uncle and my mother had organised for people smugglers to take me places. They did not take me to hospital but said my foot would heal itself. They merely tied a piece of fabric around my ankle so the poison would not come up the leg. The next day this kind woman saw me limping and asked, What is wrong with you? My uncle is a doctor and I will take you to him and he will not charge you anything. That was the first act of kindness I encountered for my entire life at 13 years of my life. That sense of freedom that someone actually cares for you was indescribable. From Quetta I went to Karachi where I stayed for more than a year, unsure of what was happening. Next I went to Indonesia where I stayed for a while before getting on a boat to Christmas Island. It wasnt a long journey but it was such a monumental journey: monumental in the sense of painful. The journey actually reinforced the whole reality of why we had to leave Afghanistan. In a sense, you almost become used to the atrocities of killings and war, the beatings and the loss of lives ... it becomes routine. So when we set out on the boat, 134 of us, (me and three or four other boys were the youngest ones), I dont think we understood the risks of the journey, the 157 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 157 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM Wallaby Stew | Di Perkins potential dangers. I had never seen a boat before because we didnt have TV so it was the first time I had stepped on the sea. I believed the journey would be healthy and we would be taken to our destination. I didnt understand this boat was just a cheap excuse to drown all these people to get their money. Thats the thing with people smugglers; they dont care if you get to the end of your journey or not; what they care about is that they get their dollars. When we sat on the boat for a few hours, it was quiet as the boat headed towards Christmas Island. We hoped we would survive the journey but about eight hours later, the boat was broken. One of the engines wasnt working so it was kind- of travelling one-sided. Underneath the boat, the old wood was cracked and water kept coming in. The bread and other food as well as clothes, kept getting wet. The boat was getting heavier, so we had to throw these things out. We had this small little bucket for throwing water back to the sea. What happened then was, we had a few amazing guys who knew how to deal with this problem. Everyone else panicked except me and another guy everyone was crying, saying all kinds of things it was like confession: This is the last time, I wont see my family again. These three guys amazingly just thought about it, and planned how to try and survive as long as possible. We shoved some of our clothes in the holes to slow down the water coming in. While it slowed down very much, it didnt stop. With a bucket we kept throwing water back to the sea. Rough weather kept coming and almost all of us were seasick; it was just a terrible thing. But at the same time, I think, when you look at it, it was peaceful. Why? Because ... the journey was not peaceful in that the energy was peaceful, it was so devastating, scary but, at the same time, we were 158 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 158 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM I AM CARRYING THE DREAMS OF MILLIONS with water. Before this, personally, I was always scared of people; now, for the first time, I was scared of nature. That is why, for me it was peaceful. I was not freaked out and every- one else was freaking out, crying about the children most of the people were older, they have wives, people left behind. I left my family behind: my mother whom I was numb about for months, but this was the first time that the element of danger was from water, rather than from people. All the people were more vulnerable than me because I wasnt as seasick as they were. They were doing and saying all kinds of things; to me it was quite an entertainment to watch people, in a sense a terrible entertainment but, at the same time, I was just listening to the water. So for 38 hours we were on the boat, which wasnt so long; but because our boat broke so early, after 8 hours it was devastating, such a horrible journey. Yet, it was a second life. I believe that every single minute you live is an advantage, every single minute of it is a gift. I had one life and I could have lost it many times, but I believe that the boat journey was an extra, added life that I have. When we got closer to Christmas Island, we were picked up. Other police came and the navy came and took us. As an indigenous in my country, we believe whenever you get there, you touch the ground or you kiss the ground. I tried to do this when we landed but wasnt allowed to. I am still upset about that because I wanted to touch the ground with my skin and ask permis- sion from the land that I am stepping on Am I allowed to or not? But they said, Hands up, you cant touch, you cant do anything. After that I did get the sense from them that, OK, I think I have entered illegally here. This is not going to be pretty. The kind of enmity and the vibe I got, it certainly wasnt friendly. So after that I was very scared. I 159 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 159 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM Wallaby Stew | Di Perkins couldnt speak and I stuttered the whole time for a few days because I was scared. I had never encountered a people who looked like that. I had never met an Australian or an English-like, or if you call it in other ways, a white person. Therefore I was stuttering the whole time because I was scared of this kind of creature I had never met. I was a little boy, very scared. When they asked me, What is your name? I was scared to say it. Then I said some- thing else and they said, Your name? and I got more scared. Then they sent an interpreter and said, That person doesnt give us his name, would you? Or if not, we will have to make him say it. So he said, You have to tell them your name. I said, I did tell them. I didnt know what they were saying. I did not speak English but I tell them my name. It was quite a scary thing. I could not sleep at night because I was scared of them. I didnt know any of the other people on the journey. Every single person carries his own burden. They couldnt afford to look after me, because, the kind of things I may have said could have affected them. If I knew them, they had to explain Do you know him, how? They put you under a microscope and scan you as if you are some kind of bacteria. Everyone is scared to say anything; you are just numb. Magically after three days on Christmas Island, we were taken to Curtin Camp, in Darwin. That is when we started talking to each other, getting to know each other. Ones I got to know and became friends with, they are still my friends. On arrival in Curtin, I said I could live here for my entire life: its not a problem they give you food, they smile at you, youve got shelter, youve got some friends there. But after ten or twenty days, the jibes they pass at you, the kind of smile of pity-ness on their face, their racist comments, the kind of pity-ness in the sense that you are useless, you mean nothing, 160 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 160 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM I AM CARRYING THE DREAMS OF MILLIONS at the same time you are a criminal, at the same time you have no value. Whenever you ask them a question, they respond in a way that ... forget about the energy, the kind of way they phrase it, makes you feel like saying, I am not an idiot. I understand it. Why do you have to make me feel like this? The racism and kind-of racist comments it is very subtle, but its very powerful. I dont have anything against them as persons because every single one of them had a duty to perform. I do not have anything against those who were in the detention centre or looked after us, but I have a thing about when you asked them a question and they said, The order has come, you have to be doing it like this. There was no exception. So you can see that they were ordered to follow such rules. It was devastat- ing. In effect, you were trapped. I couldnt breathe. I was in Curtin for close to four months and turned fifteen in the detention centre. When they interviewed me, they recorded my age as three and a half years older and refused to accept whatever date of birth I put. This is on the cassette that they gave to me at the detention centre. The interpreter was saying the most rubbish stuff, with no relevance to my words so it is no wonder there were misinterpretations. I tried to change my date of birth many times but they said, No, you cant, because you have signed it. I didnt know what the document was because it was written in English. After Curtin, I was released and sent to Melbourne. That was August 14th, 2001. I lived out in the community with a temporary protection visa. Although we had access to special benefits from Centrelink, we couldnt do many things that others could; for example, we couldnt travel anywhere at the same time. They werent decided whether to let us stay or send us back. Many times they came and searched my house, 161 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 161 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM Wallaby Stew | Di Perkins especially after September 11. It was indescribable spit on my face, egg on my face, called terrorist from people on the street. It was such an eye-opening thing. For about three months being there a few weeks before the Twin Towers I completely let my guard down. I thought I am actually safe, I am going to start learning English. They put me in a house with two Somalians, Islander boys; they were underage as well I couldnt talk with them. I missed communicating. I used to go for a walk and talk to myself. Thankfully, they changed my room and I went to live with an Afghan guy who lived in Melbourne. When I used to go on the street with my bag, they would say, What is your name? and I would say Khaliq. They would throw egg on me, spit on me, say, You bloody terrorist! Go back to your country. After that few months I thought, This is not going to be fun. Those terrorists brought down the towers so my persecu- tors were acting as stupidly as those who made that call or did that deed, or whatever they thought, in their fundamental sick mind. I ran away from the very violence with which I was persecuted. Here, in Melbourne, I was accused of that, that I actually made that violence, which was such a hurt in the ugliest way, because I said, You think you are a victim of this thing that happened in America, but why do you react like this, you have your house in Australia? Why do you react to me I havent done anything. Ive been sleeping next to that door and you are making me pay for something that happened, something very violent from fundamentalist sick- ness. I have run away from my country. I never wanted to become a refugee. I never wanted to be a victim. I was in Melbourne for nine months before a friend from the Curtin Detention Centre visited me. Ive heard in Bris- bane the education system is quite nice and the people are 162 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 162 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM I AM CARRYING THE DREAMS OF MILLIONS quite kinder than here. I will go and check as I have not enrolled; I have some money so Id like to travel in Australia a little bit and see where I am going to settle. If I find Brisbane better than here, will you come? I told him I would come because I didnt like Melbourne. So he went to Adelaide and a few months later, he came to Brisbane and reported, Well I l-o-v-e Brisbane, the people are very kind and Ive found this school as well; would you like to come? My friend continued: There is this school I am going to where the people are amaz- ing, especially the principal of Meeting Place College, Adele, who is incredible. You wouldnt feel (like) a refugee here, just feel part of the community. So I came and the proof was right. I loved it. That friend is like a father figure to me not a father figure in literal manner but we used to have a lot of conversation about life; we used to share our ideas. We have a saying in Dati, if you have no-one else to talk to, take your hat off and talk to your hat. As you are talking, you may get the right judgment to your decision. So when we talked to each other and shared our stories, we worked out answers. When I came to this college, people were concerned about me because I used to just do what teachers told me. I didnt have any patience, or the capacity to digest, to understand and to write my mind was still somewhere else. Whenever I used to go to counsellors to talk about it, they would say their own thing do this, do that. It made no sense because how I looked at life and what had happened to me they didnt give me a chance to talk about what I needed to talk about. Being Hazara, have you a strong religion that supported you? Actually, I am agnostic. It would be wrong for me to say there is a God and it would be wrong for me to say there is not a God. I would like to believe there is. But I dont believe in the violence that organised religion has brought 163 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 163 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM Wallaby Stew | Di Perkins to us not the religion, the people. This fundamentalism of which I am a victim, from which I had to run away, that kind of religious thing I dont get. Its an insult to any religion to call it a religion. Its control and its sick. It belongs to those people who are completely psycho, who dont see things in a proper manner. So I dont believe in a God in that sense. But I believe in good energy, I believe in good works, I believe in good deeds. I believe in truth, truth in that we actually accept nature how it is rather than that we create our own. My actual faith or the scaffolding of my life has always been the people I knew: my mother, my family who live far away (after many years I got a chance to talk to them). I wrote letters to them, put them in my bag and read it later on, hoping there is a response so I could read it differently. I wrote poetry, and read books even though I understood 5% of the book, I still read it in English, hoping for some sort of guidance, rather than it being imposed upon me. I am sick of rules imposed on me from a very early age most of the time it was always the external rules that were made about how I had to live my life. So I am not carrying my dream, I am carrying millions of refugees dreams in Africa they have no voice to be heard. Im telling my story but its not just my story. It is a million peoples story: people in refugee camps in Africa, in the Middle East, Central Asia, in Pakistan, in India, in Tibet, in other parts of the world. They are suffering every minute and they have no-one to listen to them and I do. I am talking to you and you are listening to me. This is a dedication from me whenever I talk to people. I am not telling my story, carrying my dream. I am carrying millions of peoples dreams. I cannot mess this up it is too precious. I dreamed my greatest grandfathers dream to study, to be free to have that ability. I am able to sit down and read a book. I am able to write a letter. I am able 164 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 164 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM I AM CARRYING THE DREAMS OF MILLIONS to leave work if I am not feeling well. I am able that word to me is freedom. I have that feeling or ability, so therefore I cannot mess it up. I am carrying millions of peoples dreams. That is my faith that gives me a goal to go forward. Adele is my institution: whenever I get tired, when I look at her when she is working. You can see her mind is working at ten things at the one time. How can you not be inspired by such an amazing woman? She is always for other people. The other woman I am working with, for the past two years, is Jane. When I talk to her, when I listen to her, she is spot on, very practical. Whenever I am procrastinating about writ- ing a letter, I say, Khaliq, do it now! She gives me a sense of genuine care. How can you not be inspired by that? These are the people if I am inspired, that is a faith to me. There are so many things around me that I can be inspired by: to make my life better and to benefit from them. That is my motivation for life: Dont mess it up. Use the time you have. I could have died earlier. I could have been killed. I could have drowned like the hundreds of people who drowned in the sea, I could have been one of them. Isnt it fortunate enough isnt it lucky enough that Im not? I cannot forget those ones who drowned, or those who are suffering just to survive under whatever oppressed, or racist system pretending to be a democracy. The kinds of rules America puts on different parts of the world is part of their way of democracy, but it doesnt necessarily have to match whatever culture another country has it means nothing to them. But to me, where I am, I love Australia. At Meeting Place College, my role is that of a psycho- therapist assistant with Jane. I used to work as a bi-lingual teacher-aide when I started in 2010. Because I did some read- ing on psychology, I do understand a lot of it but I dont have 165 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 165 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM Wallaby Stew | Di Perkins my degree. I know exactly what Meeting Place College students think, what they want to say, what they want to hear, what they dont want to speak, when they do want to speak, what is going on in their head. I phrase my questions, not as though there is something wrong with them, but trying to be their friend and understanding their journey. All of this I have learned from Jane. What I went through, I dont want anyone else to, in the entire world from here on, there should be a light of hope. Ultimately, I want to become a film director, to tell so many stories. I cant do that yet because I have to support my family financially, back in Afghanistan. Whatever situation they are in, determines what I do. If they are in a bad situa- tion, I have to work full-time to support them. If they are in a better situation, I can study part-time. The hope is: if I ever get a chance to bring them here, then I can live for me, for five days or a year. If I am given the chance to study, I can flourish. Your family is a big commitment. No, no, it is not a burden it is bigger than my life. Life can be sad when you have no purpose to go forward. Though I wish this wasnt the purpose that I have to support so many suffering people and that my cause was something different at the same time, it is a duty, a responsibility. I dont look at it as a burden. What would you say to young ones, especially refugees, read- ing this book? When I mumble about different answers to different questions, its not just my voice; its hundreds and thousands of refugees voices. I can only say simply to them Dont Mess It Up. There are millions of refugees, in the camps, detention centres, with different rules imposed upon them, different parts of the world they are suffering. The opportunities you have, they may never be able to have. They have dreamed, for generations, to have it. You are having it, you are living that dream, dont mess it up! 166 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 166 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM I AM CARRYING THE DREAMS OF MILLIONS The other thing is the meaning of freedom and some- times I see some people misunderstand the concept of freedom. They say if you behave like this, if you wear the biggest sunglasses, that means freedom. My point of view is that freedom is what you can do to improve your life, and your surroundings so long as what you do, does not adversely affect others. You can use your brain in the very right manner, in the very right way, to benefit your life, and, if possible, the lives of others. That is Freedom! You are able to do that, isnt that amazing? That is a gift and Australia has that power. This is the best country in the world to me there is no other place to be. Id love always to be in Brisbane, in Australia. Its a life of which I have dreamed and hundreds of thousands of refugees dream and I cannot mess it up. My dream is quite utopian but my dream is: I really hope from the bottom of my heart, that no-one in the world should suffer as much as I did; no-one in the world any part of Africa, Asia, Middle East, South America, in America, anywhere. In ten years I want to see a better world where America doesnt impose rules on other countries and how they have to behave. I would like to see that we look at China to learn from its culture, which is one of the richest in the world. We live on the very land of indigenous Australian, with the oldest art cultures on earth, but when we talk of Australia, we mean three hundred years back, which is a sad and ugly thing. The most selfish dream is that I would really like my family to live here with me it hasnt happened for the last twelve years. I hope it happens in the next few years. After that, once they are here, I can do something for other people, other than just my family. I can be less selfish and do more for others. Now, I am just doing for my family, about twenty- five people, sisters, brothers, other people who are suffering 167 Wallaby Stew_inside pages_NEW_LATEST_PROOF.indd 167 22-Aug-13 2:03:07 PM Wallaby Stew | Di Perkins and those at a little school. After that I can help other people in other parts of the world. In a more selfish way, I would really like to finish my stud- ies and then I am more able to do what I dream of doing, with movies, documentaries. If I were to finish my course in philosophy, then I am able to travel and talk and teach, and travel and write and make documentaries, the actual stories of people. Thats my aim, thats what I want to do. I am working with Jane now I would like to work the very line that she is working on and help so many people to flourish and whatever pain and suffering they have been through, I want them, from now onwards, not to suffer, because that is a thing of the past. If you are not an idealist, where are you? If one percent of it happens, then that will be amazing. Khaliqs depiction of himself at the age when he had to assume authority within his family.     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