Sajeda, her husband, Nayim, and their six children are Rohingya refugees. They fled the violence of Myanmar and braved a terrifying ordeal at sea but, they tell Samantha Trenoweth, they are slowly finding a new sense of hope in Australia.
Sajeda sits in a suburban sunroom, painting intricate, beautiful, spiralling vines and flowers in henna all along her daughter’s arm.
The design is not traditional. It is Sajeda’s own. This combination of ancient technique and spontaneous creativity allows her, for a moment, to forget the horrors that she and her family have witnessed as Rohingyan refugees who, five years ago, risked their lives to flee their homeland.
“We left because a village very close to us was set alight,” explains Sajeda, who is now 30, softly spoken and appears to walk with a little cloud of her countrymen and women’s suffering following behind her. Tears are never far away.
Sajeda, her husband, Nayim, and four of their six children were born in the land they call Burma, which was renamed Myanmar by its military rulers in 1989. Their parents and grandparents were also born in Burma but none of them are citizens of that country or of any other. Myanmar does not recognise members of the Rohingya Muslim minority as citizens and because the family arrived in Australia by boat, they cannot apply for citizenship here. Sajeda’s passport reads: Nationality Unspecified.
“They were attacking the Rohingya people village by village,” she explains.
“That’s why we had to leave. Then the military came to people’s homes and arrested the boys – kidnapped them – and my husband said, ‘This is too dangerous. We can’t stay.’”
Today, Mondo, where they lived and where Nayim grew up, has been almost entirely burned to the ground. Many of their friends and relations have died or are missing. Sajeda had moved to Mondo to marry Nayim when she was just 13. It was an arranged marriage.
This story is from the April 2018 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2018 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
Take me to the river
With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.
The last act
When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.
Growing happiness
Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.
Budget dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
