Letters from a Refugee

Letter 5: From Mistalia

To my favourite uncle,

The smuggler took us to a large wooden object filled with people. I have never been on a boat before, so the object looked unusual to me. Sun said that he didn't think it was big enough to carry all that people and moon said something about it looking like it was going to collapse any second. I thought so too, I think the smuggler has cheated us for a bad form of transport. Sun had fallen over on the trip here causing a big graze on his knee so i ripped a burka that i took out of my suitcase and covered it to stop it from getting infected, after cleaning the area. The whole journey had a rocky path, so it was easy to trip and hurt yourself but hard to avoid hurting yourself. After Sun got his injury dad picked him up with a smile and put him on his back, giving him a piggyback ride. Of course Moon got jealous, so I had to pick him up to give him a piggy back too, using one hand to roll the suitcase behind me and the other to support my brother.

We could only take one suitcase with us so I cleared some space by wearing mum's jacket and using a burka to hold the food to one side. Then I took Sun and Moon's most treasured things putting them underneath the folder. When I asked dad where his suitcase was, he said that he sold it and some of the things in it to pay smugglers to get us to Australia. So, he only had a pair of clothes which I stuffed next to the twins' things. I did have to rearrange some things to fit everything in but since we had consumed some of the food and water, I had more room. Dad looked back at me once before steadying Sun and then taking the suitcase from me with a amused smile, so I could support Moon with both hands. Needless to say I grinned back at him and kept walking.

Conditions on the boat could be just as bad as the camp, maybe even worse. There is little to no food, the toilets are the worst, they are really disgusting and lots of people are getting seasick making it smell like vomit. The twins get scared of the constant shaking on deck, the boat has, which is really violent at times. Dad says it's just the sea moving around beneath us and that we nothing to worry about, I don't really think he believes that though. I think he is just as worried about the boat breaking apart, in which case our limited swimming skills would definitely doom us. As if that wasn't bad enough the smugglers have asked us for more money in the time we have been on here. I have lost count of the days.

One instance of the smugglers cruelty and request for money was a couple of days ago. They suddenly came up to us and demanded we give them more money, since the amount we had given was not enough. While dad searched through his wallet, he came way too close to the twins, causing them to get scared. The next thing that I knew was that he had picked up one of them and was dangling him in the air, he said that if we didn't have enough money, he was going to throw him overboard. I gritted my teeth and started squeezing the pendant around my neck since we used my burkas as blankets, meaning I didn't wear them anymore. Mum's jacket was warm enough anyway. Just as i was getting a little more calm he loosened his grip on Moon, making Sun whimper and my temper to flare up. The only thing that stopped me from straight out punching him in the face was dad's hand on my shoulder as he gave the smuggler the money. Once Moon was safely on the ground, I gave the smuggler the biggest glare i could manage, he just ignored it and moved on.

Dad held the twins until they fell asleep because they were shaken up badly after that. While he was doing that, I took out some food and handed it out, to my family and some of the people who looked like they were starving. I also thought about what was going to happen if we ran out of food or the smuggler came back for even more money. One thing i knew for sure was that I could give up anything else, but not the pendant. It was the only thing that kept me calm and also the most important reminder of mum. I was brought out of my thought when dad asked me what i was think so hard about. I told him it was nothing, he nodded his head and then smiled. "What do you want to say?, you have that all curious look on your face" he asked. " I just want to know what would happen if they came and we didn't have enough money." I replied. "We'll figure it out when we get to it, just keep having faith kiddo" dad whispered before pausing and continuing with, "you do know that I would have never have let any of you get hurt, right?"

I nodded my head and smiled before putting my head on his shoulder to sleep whispering, "I know."

What would you have done if that had happened? Do you think the boat can stay together until we get to Australia? What should we do about the smugglers? Would you have punched the smuggler?

Hope this letter reaches you,

Your one and only niece,

Mistalia