Erasing racism one story at a time

[Music]

i was born

in a little village called babalum in

chad central africa

we had a comfortable middle class living

situation

both of my parents were educated with

careers of their own

my mother owned her own business and my

father was an elected politician

in our local government our family was

well respected within the community

and i was loved nurtured and provided

with everything i needed as a young

child

when i was four years old my father

spoke out against corruption in the

government

although i was too young to fully

understand what was happening

i knew there was something wrong

suddenly

the police started coming to our house

asking for my father

something in my mother’s body language

made it very clear

that the police had become something for

us to fear

the police started coming to our house

every single day

for months following up to the day that

changed my life forever

the day that my dream life became a

nightmare

the knock on the door that morning was

different

it was a lot earlier and it was far more

forceful

my father ordered my mother and i and my

little brother to go

hide under the bed that he was going to

get the door

we huddled silently afraid to breathe

and afraid to make noise

we did as our father told us and hide

under the bed

he went and got the door alone

i don’t remember every moment of that

day but i do remember

hearing a loud gunshot and from that

moment

my mother started to cry

she pulled me and my brother close to

her and put her arms around us

as if her arms were some form of shield

that would protect us from these men

and their bullets we waited patiently

for what felt like an eternity

it took so long for the police officers

to come

and do a kirsty check around our house

and finally they left

and my father was gone too

there was nothing everything was taken

away from us

my mother was left with two kids to look

after

she had the grief of losing her husband

and also the grief of finding another

means to provide for her two kids

on a daily basis the loss of our father

was not only emotionally painful for us

but it was all also financially our

friends and our family deceded us

because we no longer had the one show

that we leaned on

as the days and the months went by my

mother saw that chad was becoming

a difficult country a hot country that

she would not be able to support

us while living there because our lives

were also in danger

my 22 year old mother found out that she

was also pregnant

so not that she was only with two kids

she was also expecting another child

at the age of just 22. we waited until

my mother gave birth to my little sister

and in the middle of the night we set

off on an unknown journey

to a nearby refugee camp in benin

we walked about 2 000 miles to reach the

refugee camp

when we got there sadly we got the news

that the refugee camp was full

so my mother wanting us to be somewhere

that we can be seen

she made beds out of cardboard boxes we

slept

outside the unhcr office for two months

on cardboard boxes

before we were finally accepted into the

refugee camp

life in the refugee camp was not easy we

went days without food we didn’t have

access to shelter and all of these other

things

but we were getting used to it and it’s

a life that i would not wish

upon anyone after living in the camp for

a couple of years

one morning the police officers from the

camp came

and knocked on our door this time i was

terrified

because i thought the first time they

came they took

my father so obviously this time they

were going to take my mom

i was so young and i didn’t have power

to save my mom

but my mother exited and went to get the

door

and the police officers of the camp told

her that there was a man looking for

us there was a man who knew our names

a man who knew our story

as we looked this man was my father

my father was shot but he made it out

alive

he was able to flee chad with his life

and find us

in the refugee camp our family

was united and our hopes for the future

was restored we stayed in the refugee

camp for seven years

we sent our family documents to many

countries but we were

not accepting but after seven years

the good news came that we were accepted

to australia

we had absolutely no clue where

australia was

but we knew that it was going to be

somewhere peaceful

and we were grateful for that

opportunity to be adopted into a new

home

may 2007 i got on a flight for the first

time

and we settled in toowoomba

which is a two hours drive from the

city’s capital

tuwumba was a nice and welcoming

community

i went to the refugee camp when i was 4

years old

and i left and came to australia at the

age of 11.

at the age of 11 the only word i knew

was thank you but i thought thank you

meant hello

so i went everywhere thanking everyone

thinking i was politely greeting them

it was so hard to fit in because kids my

age

didn’t understand why i was the way that

i was

they didn’t understand why my skin was a

little darker

they didn’t understand why my accent was

different and they didn’t understand why

i was here in australia

i started looking around to find ways or

organizations or programs that were in

place

that would educate young people about

the arrivals

of refugees and migrants school’s been

the ideal place for education

i was disappointed to find out that

there were not many programs around

that did that by educating young people

so i wanted to find a way to give back

to my community i wanted to give back to

the country that has adopted my family

and has given us a second chance at life

so after doing a few investigation

i created erase

erase is about storytelling it’s using

the power of narrative

to erase racism one story at a time

a group of young people from refugee and

migrant backgrounds

who get trained in public speaking

get on a get in a car and set out on an

anti-racism

road trip it is very exciting

after the group of students come

together

we allow young people in schools the

opportunity

to ask questions no questions are banned

or censored

there comes a times in every everyone’s

life

when you have a project the moment

you have a project and you’re excited

about you know that this pro

this program might work and there comes

a moment that you know

for sure that it will work that moment

came for me

when we were presenting at our first

school

this young boy looked at us and said i

think

refugees are a waste of space and they

should not be here

he looked straight at me as he said it

and i knew that

he was talking about me but i proceeded

with the program

and at the end of the session he came

and apologized

and simply said that he didn’t know

it shows that just by sharing our

stories just by using

my story and sharing and having a

conversation with this young boy

he was able to understand our journeys a

little bit better

and he was able to know that refugees

and migrants are not just a waste of

space

no questions are censored or been

most of the times we get the same

questions but

we always get some surprising new

questions

just at a recent school visit a young

boy bravely

asked us a question and he said

what class of flight did you come into

australia

i looked at this young boy and i was

happy that he felt safe enough

in his classroom environment to be able

to ask us these questions

because if young people have questions

about refugees and migrants

the best people to ask are refugees and

the best people to us

are young people who are just like them

who have experienced hardship and trauma

that can use their stories as an example

i looked at this young boy and we

answered and we said

economy of course we didn’t fly into

australia

in a business class and he was shocked

so that just proves this type of

stereotypes and stigmas

that are held that young people carry on

but just a simple conversation and a

simple q a

session can change i believe that no one

is born racist

and as michelle obama once said you

can’t

hate from up close racism

is a result of behaviors that go

unchallenged

and behaviors that just go without being

questioned

but i truly believe that we can erase

racism one story at a time

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

you