I was born in Patchogue a small town of
about 50,000 people in South Sudan near
the Ugandan border like most people in
Punjab
I’m from the Acholi tribe we live on
both sides of the border between South
Sudan and Uganda actually people cook by
digging a hole in the ground and
lighting a fire with coal and wood when
I was about three I fell into an open
fire and burnt off my fingers on both
hands
my small three-year-old fingers melted
in the fire however there’s no time to
think about my fingers we still have to
escape from the rebel soldiers and flee
to Kakuma refugee camp 434 kilometres
away we lived in Kakuma refugee camp in
Kenya for the next seven years my
parents never treated me any differently
and in a poverty-stricken lives with no
time for thinking or reflecting a
Cerreta sister and two brothers and we
lived in a mud hut with one bed where my
parents slept and my siblings and I
slept on the floor with plastic sheeting
to protect our home from the rains and
sand storms that we purchase Lee through
the cap penetrating the walls and roofs
of our shelter I walked barefoot each
day to fetch water and stood all day at
the market to sell snacks so that we
could have money to pay for food because
the food aid packages we received would
only last 10 to 15 days my hands were
just part of my life and I had to adapt
to fit whatever task I was doing
and people staring making comments and
talking among themselves also became
part of my life before coming to
Australia I had two operations in
Nairobi in the semia to separate my
fingers which had stuck together
this included grafting of skin from my
left forearm and both thighs onto my
hands the time in hospital and recovery
took about six months we came to
Australia in 2003 in order to my first
day at the intensive English centre in
primary school didn’t notice how
different I was not only was I African I
did not speak English and I had these
deformity that I could not hide
I remember kids who stare at me point
and laugh among themselves next day of
school I’ll experience it all over again
there are two extremes with the kids one
was the attention of teasing but far
more frequently what they did was avoid
me I was angry and resented my parents I
thought that Australia was the land of
opportunity but all I experienced was
pain and humiliation all I wanted to do
was go back to the life I knew which was
a mud hut in a refugee camp where I
slept on the floor when I was about 11 I
had a third operation on my hands this
time was to open up my thumbs which was
stuck to the files on my hands he made
me feel like I was working goods they
needed fixing and fixing my sense of
healing did not come from the three
operations
but from a plaque on the hospital wall I
was never religious or went to church
but he said the Lord Himself goes before
you and will be with you he will never
leave you nor forsake you do not be
afraid and do not be discouraged I
decided I was not going to be
discouraged and that I will be stubborn
in your 10 it was time to decide what
subjects I was going to undertake in the
eleven which will ultimately lead to
universities I wanted to go to
university and I wanted to study for a
Bachelor of Social Work the career
counselor said to me
and my father that she did not think I
was capable of completing the subjects
that will lead to university my father
who was a former school principal in
Kakuma refugee camp said yes I think she
can do it unless she should try so the
school made my father sign a letter that
stated if I fail any of these subjects
then he as a parent would take
responsibility and not the school three
eleven and twelve that letter
became a motivation are going to Curtin
University
[Applause]
and completing my bachelor of social
work in 2016 five months ago I got my
first job with the Women’s Health and
Family Services
[Music]
it’s a multicultural woman’s domestic
violence advocate and I’m now completing
the African Leadership Initiative
program to become a leader and inspire
other young people my sister actually
helped me type out my assignments for
the first two years until my hands got
used to it and no longer fatigued and
Curtin University gave me the extra time
to complete my written exams I live with
my parents
four brothers and a sister it’s a long
way from Punjab my five-year-old brother
looks curiously at me when I teach he
might account I count one two three four
but my family did not talk about my
hands my five siblings have never asked
me what happened to my hands I don’t
know what happened to my hands or how I
fell into the fire because my parents
don’t talk about it either so I’m
talking to you this is what happened
when I was three the fire bug made a
fire inside me when we lived in a
refugee camp for seven years with
nothing
I stayed stubborn when I had operations
on hands that could not be fixed
I stayed stubborn when I landed in
school with no English and they saw no
future for me I stayed stubborn these
are my hands my hands are not my destiny
they’re my spirit and my hands and I
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
about 50,000 people in South Sudan near
the Ugandan border like most people in
Punjab
I’m from the Acholi tribe we live on
both sides of the border between South
Sudan and Uganda actually people cook by
digging a hole in the ground and
lighting a fire with coal and wood when
I was about three I fell into an open
fire and burnt off my fingers on both
hands
my small three-year-old fingers melted
in the fire however there’s no time to
think about my fingers we still have to
escape from the rebel soldiers and flee
to Kakuma refugee camp 434 kilometres
away we lived in Kakuma refugee camp in
Kenya for the next seven years my
parents never treated me any differently
and in a poverty-stricken lives with no
time for thinking or reflecting a
Cerreta sister and two brothers and we
lived in a mud hut with one bed where my
parents slept and my siblings and I
slept on the floor with plastic sheeting
to protect our home from the rains and
sand storms that we purchase Lee through
the cap penetrating the walls and roofs
of our shelter I walked barefoot each
day to fetch water and stood all day at
the market to sell snacks so that we
could have money to pay for food because
the food aid packages we received would
only last 10 to 15 days my hands were
just part of my life and I had to adapt
to fit whatever task I was doing
and people staring making comments and
talking among themselves also became
part of my life before coming to
Australia I had two operations in
Nairobi in the semia to separate my
fingers which had stuck together
this included grafting of skin from my
left forearm and both thighs onto my
hands the time in hospital and recovery
took about six months we came to
Australia in 2003 in order to my first
day at the intensive English centre in
primary school didn’t notice how
different I was not only was I African I
did not speak English and I had these
deformity that I could not hide
I remember kids who stare at me point
and laugh among themselves next day of
school I’ll experience it all over again
there are two extremes with the kids one
was the attention of teasing but far
more frequently what they did was avoid
me I was angry and resented my parents I
thought that Australia was the land of
opportunity but all I experienced was
pain and humiliation all I wanted to do
was go back to the life I knew which was
a mud hut in a refugee camp where I
slept on the floor when I was about 11 I
had a third operation on my hands this
time was to open up my thumbs which was
stuck to the files on my hands he made
me feel like I was working goods they
needed fixing and fixing my sense of
healing did not come from the three
operations
but from a plaque on the hospital wall I
was never religious or went to church
but he said the Lord Himself goes before
you and will be with you he will never
leave you nor forsake you do not be
afraid and do not be discouraged I
decided I was not going to be
discouraged and that I will be stubborn
in your 10 it was time to decide what
subjects I was going to undertake in the
eleven which will ultimately lead to
universities I wanted to go to
university and I wanted to study for a
Bachelor of Social Work the career
counselor said to me
and my father that she did not think I
was capable of completing the subjects
that will lead to university my father
who was a former school principal in
Kakuma refugee camp said yes I think she
can do it unless she should try so the
school made my father sign a letter that
stated if I fail any of these subjects
then he as a parent would take
responsibility and not the school three
eleven and twelve that letter
became a motivation are going to Curtin
University
[Applause]
and completing my bachelor of social
work in 2016 five months ago I got my
first job with the Women’s Health and
Family Services
[Music]
it’s a multicultural woman’s domestic
violence advocate and I’m now completing
the African Leadership Initiative
program to become a leader and inspire
other young people my sister actually
helped me type out my assignments for
the first two years until my hands got
used to it and no longer fatigued and
Curtin University gave me the extra time
to complete my written exams I live with
my parents
four brothers and a sister it’s a long
way from Punjab my five-year-old brother
looks curiously at me when I teach he
might account I count one two three four
but my family did not talk about my
hands my five siblings have never asked
me what happened to my hands I don’t
know what happened to my hands or how I
fell into the fire because my parents
don’t talk about it either so I’m
talking to you this is what happened
when I was three the fire bug made a
fire inside me when we lived in a
refugee camp for seven years with
nothing
I stayed stubborn when I had operations
on hands that could not be fixed
I stayed stubborn when I landed in
school with no English and they saw no
future for me I stayed stubborn these
are my hands my hands are not my destiny
they’re my spirit and my hands and I
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
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