The government (in Sudan) is Muslim…
freedom is important.
Sometimes people can’t go to church, no freedom, but here you have freedom, and it is good.

Some 2 or 300 refugees were on board as part of the cargo hold…
for my parents it was dreadful, for me it was wonderful,
I had a lovely time…

…the important thing is to learn English first…take things step by step.
You will be a success and feel yourself:
yes I want to do that.

They expect anyone from the same tribe is involved in some way…if you are not with them in politics, it means you are against them.

Our children …can get an education, work and have a life, without worrying that someone might be waiting round the corner to do something to them.

Rose used to say to my mother…
“You should wear a dress, cut your hair and colour it… you would look much younger,”
and my mother would faint at the thought of wearing anything else but a sari.
Rose was amazed. “Don’t tell me you’ve never worn a swimsuit!”
And my children giggled, because the thought of their grandmother in a swimsuit was funny.

Nobody knocks on my door to say: “You are a spy.” It is not like in Sudan…

At home the temple would be just down the street…here you have to make a big plan, you can’t just say “I want to see Ganesha” and just go…

40 (is)… like an awakening, we had been dormant for so long…
I am now questioning everything …
paving out my own path.
It may not be the right path for everyone else, but it is what I want to do with my life.

I remember people touching my skin and asking what I was wearing on my skin.
Why was I so dark?

Now I have more friends in Ballarat.
Before it was too hard to communicate;
now I speak five languages with English.

Our generation didn’t ask questions.
This generation (asks) why they do all the rituals, they don’t want to follow blindly…

As kids grow into the Australian lifestyle they tend to forget…

No religion was allowed, people were not even allowed to fall in love. We saw the bodies floating in the river, tied together.

You only need a small amount of people to do a large amount of harm.

The most important part of our life is respect.

We cried dry tears at the time.
There was nothing there.

The refugee had to live through one day to get to the next day.

It was just me and my family, and they were nice and welcomed us. Also my children go to the school…at the church…we are enjoying/joining into the community together.

Normally our attitude is that you don’t need to go to temple to worship, as long as you are a good person and do the right thing you’ll be fine…

Our Prophet says…whatever place you live… even if the government (of) that place is ruled by non Muslim people; you have to respect the law.

I wanted to read more about Buddhism, so I went to the library to find books, and learned it better than when I was in Cambodia.
I learned Buddhism through English texts!

They can persecute you (with) many things. They took my brother’s sons and had them for two days, beating them day and night, no food, no water.
Just for information.

Don’t leave a single rice grain on your plate, because one day you might chase a dog for a single grain of rice stuck on his tail.

We heard there was a gang coming down the street. Mum said: “Get into the cardboard box and don’t make a noise even if you hear screaming. If I am screaming…
I beg of you to not come out til I tell you.”

They closed many churches.
We…meet in a house of one of the members from time to time, but they are monitoring everyone…

One of the great things of Australia is you can move about freely.
No one has the right to stop you in the street and say: “I don’t like you, what are you doing here?”…

As an Australian Muslim I am proud of Australia. I am proud of Australian people that we have a wonderful environment, wonderful friendship and a good way of living…

I go to temple more often here than I did there…

When the kids see my baby photos, they ask “Where (are) daddy’s photos?”
He just has his memory…

…what we had experienced from the Nazi regime was terrible and survival was a matter of luck…

Meditation is a practical part of Buddhism: you try to obey the rules, as well as purify your mind. That’s very important in daily living, your mind rushes all the time…

People live without anything. No food, no water, no medicine.
People get sick. And you die.

More and more your access to going back is cut.
You want to exactly recreate what you had there.
…food…temple…drums… Music…saris…

God doesn’t have any form…
we give it the form just to pray…

…since September 11 things have changed…that’s why we try our best to show people “Islam is not the war”.
Those people chose a different way… that’s not our religion.
Islam is a very peaceful religion…

I don’t like…how people twist religion, sometimes you have to stop and ask
“Is this what it is meant to be about?&rdquo

Lots of places you go there is a church, there is a mosque, side by side.

You can get a good job and save your money.
Save for your children and build for their future.

I like the feel of the sunshine.

We have our own 10 Commandments,
I don’t think there is any fundamental difference.
But with killing we go one step further…
we don’t kill for meat, or kill in any way.
That’s why our religion is vegetarian.

My parents were used to life in Europe, particularly Poland where potatoes were the staple diet (and) oranges were unbelievably expensive…when we got on the ship the further we went away from France the more common oranges became, and potatoes became rare. By the time we got to Tahiti my parents were seriously worried because…oranges were on the floor and potatoes were in a glass container… they thought in Australia oranges will be thrown at each other but potatoes will cost three arms and a leg.

Good karma and bad karma;
what you do in this life is an investment on what you do in your next life.

…the story of Jews throughout history is the journeying, the migration from one place to another…coming across people you have a connection with…

We landed in Perth in July; we had nothing to wear. It was so cold. And I was thinking: why are we here?

Every day, when you finished school, there would be army there waiting with guns…

We live for this life and prepare for next life.

When the plane first lifted off I wasn’t sure if I was in heaven or not, until we were in Melbourne, and I knew we were in heaven.