When I was 10 years old, my sisters and I were sent to live with my grandfather and his second wife, Nanna, for a couple of months, whilst my mother was in hospital. Nanna was the librarian at the local Catholic Primary School and so we became students there. Apart from the normal adjustments involved in changing schools, the move also meant that, for the first time, we were ex....
From as far back as I can remember I have felt lost and unwanted. I was born in Vietnam in 1991. My parents were not married and my father tried to convince my mother to have an abortion. My mother refused. She wanted to give me life. When I was nine months old my mother and I moved to Russia. When I was five my mother met my step-father and they decided to have a …....
For the past few weeks I have been in the grip of an awful virus that sucked every last bit of energy out of me. I cannot remember feeling so sick, in a very long time. No matter how hard I willed myself to get out of bed and do something productive I just couldn’t do it. Lists went unchecked, boxes were not ticked, plans were cancelled, and goals were not kicked! This is the....
I have always loved school. I loved hanging out with my friends each day, being part of the school community and being inspired by the teachers around me. I even loved the pressure and structure of assignments and assessment tasks. Call me crazy, but I just loved everything about it. I loved it so much that I didn’t want to leave it. As the last day of Year 12 got closer and ....
I was born in Fiji on 5 April 1986 and for the first four years of my life I knew nothing but unconditional love. I lived with my parents, Fulori and Sakiusa and maternal grandmother, Naula. They all doted upon me, I was the focus of their affection and delighted in the security and stability that such love brings. My parent’s marriage was not a happy one however, and when ....
