Your stories of belonging...

"I grew up in the city of Santiago in a very populated area so I don't find much difference between Melbourne and Santigo. I do the same things I used to do there. I love visiting places like parks, shopping centres and being around with friends. I love living in the city. There are many different things to entertain your self like going to the cinemas, visiting galleries, museums or some other beautiful places. When I went to Chile we spent a month in the country. We were in a nice place but there wasn't much to see after one week living there. I found it very boring to live in the country."
Maria

"When we married 45 years ago we intended starting married life in Australia. Circumstance after circumstance prevented us, but we never gave up on our dream. We finally made it twenty years ago, but instead of just the two of us there was now six. We were able to give to Australia, along with lifetime skills, what we consider the best of our life's work - our four children!
Our children have since given us (and thier new country) our seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. They have worked hard and they all have secure futures, and never fail to show us thier appreciation for keeping our dream alive for all those years.
We, now in our senior years will live our lives out, content in the knowledge that our dream proved worth every minute of the twenty five years it took to bring it to fruition....but then we always knew we didn't belong anywhere else!"
Mary

"My story is when I arrived in Australia, I spoke very little english. At first it was too hard to communicate. Then I expected to find a lot of black people. At the time I was young and I was shy. A few months later I decided to be less shy and more open and I found it a lot easier to communicate with people and life started to come much easier. I made a few Australian friends who helped me to speak english and find a better job. I still have these friends now. From then I never looked back. It was the best thing I have done. I feel proud of living in Australia. It is a great country with great and helpful people and I am lucky to raise my family in this country. I am thankful to the Australian people and Australia to accept me here."
John

My special place is... | Where do I belong? | What sort of country do I want to belong to?