‘Moving Away’ by Lola, Year 9

Hello, my name is Ali, and I am 11 years old and from Iraq. I am a displaced person. I had to quit Iraq with my infant sister and mother two months ago. My father and older brother, Omar, were forced to remain in order to fight for our country. I haven’t spoken to them in ages; I hope everything is well with them. I wanted to tell you how I ended up as a refugee.

My country began to be bombarded by Germany when I was ten years old. It began in a village distance from my town, but it gradually spread to my town around two months ago. My father and brother, Omar, were dragged out to fight for our country. My mother had to find a way out of here while caring for me and my younger sister.

She’d heard about a refugee camp on the Iraqi border, around two miles from our town. We chose to leave since it was becoming too dangerous for us to stay. We awoke around 5 a.m. the next morning and began our trek. We heard explosions and guns on our route, but we had to keep going. Mum had to feed my sister a few times, but we were at the camp by 8 a.m. Our luggage was enormous. We had just missed the final boat, but it was already full, and the next boat wasn’t until next week.