Junior School Magazine - Edition 6 (NOV 2018)

Y ear 5 - N arrative - continued

CHAPTER 6 - NANCY GRIFFIN Christopher and I are the Griffin Couple. We are global citizens and we met at university when we were eighteen. Although we have been married for 3 years, Christopher and I have remained together ever since then. We love traveling together and do so quite frequently. Because of the fact that we didn’t have any children, we were thinking about adopting one. It was on one night that I flicked on the TV and we watched a documentary about refugees. “Here in America, there has been an over load of refugees. Some have arrived by boat, others by train and some just by walking,” stated Barry Geralds, the news reporter. “The majority being children without parents, so here’s your chance to adopt a child. You can raise awareness and help refugees by: donating money to refugees, creating a website about refugees, publishing an article about refugees, making a documentary or video about refugees or fundraising to donate money to refugees. Other suggestions include being active on social media and the internet to raise awareness about refugees, making posters and signs or even simply giving out flyers. But most of all we encourage you to adopt a child!” As I turned off the TV, I looked at her husband and squealed, “we’re adopting a child refugee!” In our eagerness to adopt a child refugee, we traveled all the way to America. When we came, there was a large group of children. This was obviously the refugees with no parents. I observed that there were two children that looked inseparable. Coincidentally, these two children were Abood and Sylvia. Although we noticed how the hardships that both Abood and Sylvia had experienced had affected them, it was their brave faces and positivity that made us want to spend more time with them. After a long period of time of chatting and getting to know each other, Christopher and I decided to adopt Abood and Sylvia. Ever since, we have watched Abood and Sylvia bloom and grow into amazing people. And although their tales of seeking refuge will forever stay with them, they have developed into people who hold their heads high and continue to believe that even though things may look bad, there’s always something to make you smile. AUTHOR’S NOTE After writing this narrative, I have truly understood how fortunate we are to live in a peaceful and safe country. I never really thought about how blessed we are until after I wrote this narrative. I think we should all appreciate how lucky we are to live in such an amazing country like Australia. There are no wars, limited violence and conflict, and anything that can harm us in such a severe way. My view on the life of refugees now is a lot different to my previous opinion four weeks ago when I hardly even knew what a refugee was. When I am in times of stress, I just remember to be grateful for the things we have.

D anielle S voboda Y ear 5P

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JSM Edition 6