Amina

From Bangladesh to Morwell

I grew up in a Bangladesh refugee camp. That’s where I was born.

I grew up without education, without any proper food and without freedom of movement.

We are Rohingya people. My parents fled Myanmar (Burma) in 1991, because of all the violence. They wanted to save their lives.

My older sister was very little at the time – only one years old. My younger brother and sister and I were born in Bangladesh.

My dad passed away when I was ten years old. My mum and grandma raised us. Because my mum was still young, my grandma financially supported us. She went out to work on the farms. She collected firewood from the jungle to cook for us.

The camp was crowded – everyone was close by. One room is next to another room, and another room. We all lived together.

I didn’t learn much in the refugee camp. They had a few subjects, but they didn’t teach English.

I started learning English when I first arrived in Australia. I was 14 years old.

When I found out we were resettling in Australia, I felt two things: excited and nervous. We didn’t know this country. We didn’t know what was going to happen, where we were going to go and who would be with us.

It was all kinds of stress and all kinds of excitement together.

That was the first time we’d been on a plane and we didn’t even know how to put a seatbelt on.

We had a few weeks of training when coming off the plane in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. It was ‘life in Australia’ kind of training. It didn’t really help.

There was one person who met us at the airport when we first landed in Brisbane. He could speak our language. He helped us get to our accommodation. He provided dinner for that night. Then, we were alone.

We felt lonely. It was a very big house. The yard was very big. Even my sister was scared to go to the toilet by herself.

I went to school for a little while, but then I married at 16 years of age.

I didn’t want to leave school to get married. I didn’t want to leave my study. My in-laws told my family I didn’t have to leave school; I could continue study even when I moved in with them. But since the first day they yelled at me if I came home to do school work. I decided not to go to school anymore, because it was hell if I came back home.

I was in Brisbane for more than five years.

Both of my sons were born there.

I separated from my husband in 2015.

I thought I would move to another state where I would have a better family life. A happy family.

So, I lived in Springvale for two years before moving to the Latrobe Valley in 2017.

Around here, I like to go out with my children. They really like soccer. They go to school. I am a driving instructor, and I do interpreting for people who cannot speak English. I am about to finish my Certificate IV in Community Services. I’m very passionate about community service, because they were the first people to help me.

My favourite thing about the Latrobe Valley is that most people know me here. This is a small town with very good people. We have a very supportive community here.

This is the life I wanted; the right choice. This is where I call home.