REFUGEE CHILDREN’S STORIES FOR KS2

SADO'S STORY

Sado was eight years old when she fled from Somalia.

"I came back from Sunday school and I remember seeing that our living room as well as our kitchen had collapsed. Then I saw tanks in front of our house and they began firing. It was terrible.

We ran as fast as we could, my mother holding my hand. There was also Feriyo, my friend, as well as her granny who was running behind us because she could not catch up with us. She was old. President Siad Barre's picture was everywhere. I used not to look at him, but while we were running I saw a huge picture of him and I was scared.

Feriyo fell down while we were still running and there was this deafening noise. I let go of my mother's hand and ran back to help Feriyo but she wouldn't stand up. I shook her saying, "Feriyo, stand up." I begged her to stand but she wouldn't.

I have lots of friends here in my new school in London and they are all nice but I still remember Feriyo. She was so nice."

WALI'S STORY

Wali is twelve years old. He is an Afghan refugee. He fled from Afghanistan in 1997 and now lives in the UK with his mother and brother.

"I was born in Afghanistan, in Kabul. Kabul is the capital city of Afghanistan. We lived in a brick house. We were not poor, but we were not rich. My father worked at the civic centre and my mother was a housewife.

When I was small I was quite happy. Life was very happy. Life was not hard and people were always kind to me. I went to school and I was in Class Six. My teacher was very kind to me. I always did my homework and I had many friends. After school we would go for a walk and play football together. Sometimes we would have a picnic.

Fighting started in Afghanistan. One night some men came to our house and took my father away and he was shot. Our life became very hard. Then fighting started in Kabul. One morning at about four or five I was woken up by a noise. My mother and my family went into the corridors where there were no windows. The rockets came in fours. We stayed in the corridor for about an hour. Then it was a little bit quiet so we came out and my mother started to cook. The rockets stopped coming to Kabul, but not for other cities near us.

After this there were lots of soldiers walking about. Sometimes there were bad soldiers who went into houses and took things. All the schools were shut. I couldn't go to see my friends because it wasn't safe to go outside. The only time my mother went out was to get food. We were lucky because my uncle had a car and we could go quickly to the shops. After living like this for a week, my family decided we had to leave."

ELMER'S STORY

Elmer is Colombian He and his parents left their homes because they were threatened by soldiers.

We couldn't go into town, we couldn't get our things from the house because the army would grab my mother, my grandfather, and kill them. Since we had no change of clothes, we repaired the clothes of my brothers. Then where we were staying was bombed and we had to run away again.

It was raining, and we only had a small tent. All the children went inside and the adults stayed outside. Again the soldiers came near and they threw grenades. These made a terrible noise and we all cried out of fear. Then the soldiers bombed us from helicopters. it was just like a Rambo movie.

AHMED'S STORY

My name is Ahmed Jama. I am 11 years old. I used to live in a country called Somalia. Today I am living in England because of the war in my country. My family lived in a city called Hargeisa. We had a good life. Then soldiers attacked our house because they thought we did not support the government.

They took my father away. We didn’t see him again. Me, my mum and my two sisters ran away as we were scared.

We finally reached a country called Ethiopia. There were many more Somalis living there. It was cold and many people got sick from sleeping outside. One of my sisters was taken to hospital.

When I was 9 we came to London. I have been going to school for two years. I like school. I miss my Dad and my best friend Mohamed. Now I play football with my friends. My favourite team is Arsenal.

PARVIN'S STORY

My name is Parvin and I am 10 years old. I was born in Tehran, the capital of Iran. My Dad used to be a teacher there. We lived in a nice flat.

When I was very young I knew things were getting worse for my father. My uncle was a politician, and because of some of the things that my uncle said, both he and my father were arrested. My father was very weak when the police let him go.

One day my Mum woke me up very early in the morning. We dressed and got into the car. My parents had packed a few clothes, food and a few other things. My mum had packed my favourite toys, but I had to leave many things behind. We got on a plane that brought us to London.

We stayed with an aunt for a few months, and then we found our own flat. I have a lot of new friends here but I still miss my friends in Iran.

ARLENA'S STORY

I lived in Kosovo. I had a very happy life with my two sisters and one brother. My father was a doctor there and my mother was a nurse.

The government closed our schools. The police would not let us go to school normally, so we had secret schools in houses. We sat on the floor with just a blackboard.

I was 14 years old. We left our country because the soldiers burned our house. It was not safe. Now I am going to school in England. I have made friends. I still miss my beautiful country.

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