My Journey (Memior)

Tooday, was the day, the day my family and I would leave Afghanistan on a journey to Australia. The day we would set foot on Australian turf would be when my family and I would convince ourselves that we have made the right decision. Waiting for the boat to arrive would have been one of the scariest things that had ever happened to me. The sun started to rise and out of the corner of my eye I could see a boat, which would finally take us to start our new lives on Australia. The junky sea vessel was about 6 metres in length and 3 metres in width, I can’t believe that me and my family are meant to board this boat for 25 days with 15 other people….. I could sense it was going to be one very uncomfortable trip.  As the boat got closer to us, we could see that it was made with rusty old metal and literally anything you would find at a dump. Am I safe on this wretched sea vessel?

The sun started to rise; the boat had finally arrived, awaiting our departure. My family and I started walking on to the old and disgusting boat. Walking on to the boat, my emotions were changing so fast, one minute I was excited, the next I was feeling nervous. As I walked on the boat thought about the rest of my family left in Afghanistan, my older brother and my father who had been laid to rest here, due to diseases.  I felt guilty when I stepped foot on the boat, because there are many more people who need to leave Afghanistan for their safety.  But I have to start thinking about my family and the hell that we have been put through. My older sister was brutally attacked, my mother had to work for 22 hours straight just to earn enough money for us to have any food. The time my family had to go without food for 1 week because my dad passed away. All this poverty and all this pain, I knew that if we made it to Australia all this suffering, worrying and nerves would be worth it. The engine roared as the boat started. The whole back of the boat was covered in pitch black smoke. By the time the smoke had blown away we were finally out at sea, far away from our home country, Afghanistan.   

After what had felt like a month on this disgusting, fish smelling boat, on a journey to Australia, would have to be one of the most nervous experiences of my life.  It had actually only been a fortnight but people were getting sick due to dehydration and starvation until eventually and elderly woman passed away due to weakness from lack of food. She wasn’t the last either and with every death that occurred the journey felt even more hopeless. It had seemed like my family and I weren’t suffering as much as others, until I started complaining of a bad stomach ache. This wretched stomach ache went on for days as food was a very scarce source only allowing everyone to have small amount each day. Many people tried to give the younger children bits of their food supplies to try and keep them alive. Luckily within days my stomach had calmed down but still with every day of sickness, I lost more and more hope. There was only so long we could go on for with limited food and water.

After what felt like another week had past, we had entered rough seas, off the coast of Indonesia. We had entered rough seas before but nothing as bad as this. The waves were crashing over the boat, making the deck look like a pool. I was cramped into the corner of the boat with my mum and older sister; we were so cold and scared. My sister’s hands started shaking hysterically and mum had started to cry. This trip had gotten worse. I could see that the back of the boat had started to crack, and with every wave the crack got larger and larger. Everyone had moved to the front of the boat in case the back of the boat disappeared. All you could hear was the sound of the waves crashing against the side of the boat, but this was interrupted by screeeming. Someone was screaming for help. My family and I ran to the side of the boat, and we could see a lady crying, her husband has fallen overboard. The vicious waves crashed against the boat, making the man fall overboard and the wicked waves swallowed him.  It was too late he was gone. I felt sympathetic for the woman who had lost her husband too soon. We had all gone back into the boat and we started to comfort the lady. She sat there crying, but not for long. “CRACK!”. We all slowly looked to the deck, my insides turned to ice and my heart dropped out of my chest when I saw that the back had snapped off. We had started to submerge and before long it could not be seen.

The water was icy cold. I kicked my legs up to the surface and I looked around, gasping for breath in the choppy water. I kept swimming, as hard as I could to stay above the waves, hoping that I would see my family again. The waves had finally stopped and I was relieved as my arms were starting to hurt and my emotions were changing all the time. I was looking for my family, they were the only relatives I had left.  I kept swimming in fear hoping that I would stay alive and I would be able to find my mother. It had felt like I had been swimming for ages, my arms started to stiffen up and my legs had started to ache, but it was all worth it. I had finally found my mum and my older sister. They were both floating on top of the water clinging to a small piece of wood. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough room for me to hold onto the piece of wood. I was shaking and shivering as the water was getting colder and colder and the day was slowly turning towards night. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a barrel, a barrel big enough for me to hold onto so I would not sink. I swam towards the barrel and I was relieved to grab a hold of it. I felt a sigh of relief. I swam over towards my mum and my family, we were safe. I had clung to the barrel all through the night and into the morning.  My family and I had woken up to a loud roar of this fisherman’s boat, this was our saviour I thought to myself. We had boarded the boat, but I had no clue who they were or what they were talking about. We just held on and hoped that the men would take us to our destination, Australia.