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Childhood in Sudan
An introduction
Egypt is a country partly in North Africa and partly in the Middle East. It borders Sudan to the south and Libya to the West. Egypt is a major powerhouse in Africa. My family and I lived in Egypt for three years after fleeing Sudan in 2000. We settled in Egypt after three long weeks of traveling. I can remember when we left and boarded a train to a port on the border of Sudan and Egypt. We had to take a ferry for one night to take us to Egypt. We arrived in the middle of the night and had to get on another train to take us to Cairo.
For the first couple of weeks settling in, Egypt was very different and confusing - getting used to the surroundings of tall buildings and a busy lifestyle was a bit daunting. There were more cars, busier streets and we had to catch trains everywhere. We lived with our uncle and his family for the first six months in an apartment. It was cramped and very small in living space, given that the house only had 4 bedrooms for everyone to live in.
One hard thing I had to get used to, was taking stairs everyday to go up and down. There were no backyards to play in or much space to venture around. It’s the complete opposite here in Australia. The houses are spacious and the clouds are never foggy. In Egypt pollution was very evident: there’s rubbish on the streets murky skies etc.
The reason my family moved to Egypt was basically to apply for a humanitarian visa to migrate either to Australia or America as many of my extended family has done in the past. Applying for a visa was the easiest part but getting granted a visa or going through the acceptance process was one of the hardest parts. Our chances for a visa were rejected on more than one occasion, which meant we had to decide to go either back to Sudan or hope for the best or to keep applying. After a couple of years of trying to get a visa we finally got acceptance and an all clear to come to Australia. It was very exciting - the thought of leaving Egypt and coming to a new country.
I remember clearly going to the airport and leaving Egypt. Our friends and family came to say goodbye. It was a sad and joyful time, because I knew how hard it would have been for all those families waiting for that visa. So it was an envious feeling for them but hopefully we can be reunited one day.
