Refugee Newsletter - unhcr

Telling Refugee StoriesLatest writing comp winnersannouncedFirst placeEighteen-year-old Mina Ardic has troubleremembering her father. “The sad thing isthat his face remains vague in my memoryand it’s slowly fading away.”Mina escaped from war-torn Bosnia withher mother and three siblings as refugees,and was resettled to Australia where it wasrumoured her father had fled. Sadlyhowever, as it turned out, Mina’s fatherHajrudin was one of the many lives lost tothe break-up of the former Yugoslavia.Mina’s story, as told by her classmateand friend Dragica Dacic, whose Serbianfamily also fled conflict in the Balkanssome years earlier, is one of many enteredin the UNHCR high school writingcompetition and won first place in themain category.“I thought I had been to hell and backbut when Mina, who is Bosnian, told meher story, I thought how lucky I am andhow lucky she is to have survived”, saidDragica.Dragica writes how as a six-year oldMina was suddenly forbidden to play withher childhood friends because they wereSerbian and Croatian. She narrates herfriend’s story of war closing in on thefamily until they were forced to flee; thestory of Mina’s younger brothers having tobe dressed up in girls’ clothes to stopthem being killed by soldiers targetingmen and boys; the story of an anguishedmother, alone and desperate for herchildren to survive, let alone lead a‘normal’ life.While statistics give scale, they canhide the humanity behind the numbers. Inrunning its annual writing competition,Refugees: telling their stories, UNHCRhopes to engage young Australians inDragica Dacic (left) was the winner of thisyear's competition for her story on her friendMina Ardic (right).Photo: UNHCRtelling the human stories behind thenumbers. Announcing the winners of lastyear’s competition in May, UNHCRRepresentative Neill Wright said: “Thesecompelling tales help to humanise a groupof people too often cited as mere statisticsor an abstract political problem.”“Through talking and listening withcompassion and writing with respect, wehope this competition helps to buildunderstanding as well as forge newfriendships,” he said.Dragica agrees: “Although I haveextracted one story, it captures whatpeople have gone through and hopefully itwill raise awareness of the plight ofrefugees” she said. More importantly,“Writing this piece about Mina’s journeyproves people can put war aside and getover it. We can share stories andsympathise with each other” Dragica adds.Winning first place has been a boost toDragica and Mina and the whole school.“I didn’t even expect to get short listed”says Dragica, “To be given that title ofwinner – it feels amazing. This is definitelyan achievement for the whole school andnot just for Mina and me”. St Alban’sCollege teacher Phil McMillan agrees,saying it shows the students can competeat a statewide level with other schools.“Both Dragica and Mina stand out as thestudents who really do want to make thebest of their time at school,” he said.Second place“I find myself anticipating what he is goingto say, but at the same time I am scared”writes 15-year-old Amee Maiklem from StBrigid’s College, Perth. Amy won secondplace in the competition for her story onthe life of Algerian refugee Adele Baya.Baya, a journalist who fell foul of theauthorities in his home country, spoke toAmee’s class and gave the girls a veryreal reminder of how lucky they were tohave grown up in such a harmonious andconflict-free country. As Baya recountedhis struggle to get an education, toSecond-place winner Amee Maiklem (left)with Adele Baya, and another student fromSt Brigid's College.Photo: UNHCR22 Refugee Newsletter No. 2/2005