New Homeland

• Emad Hassan, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2013

New Homeland

My first glimpse of Sydney was from the plane as we landed into Sydney airport. The blue ocean stretching to the horizon and the flashy Sydney harbour caught my eyesight. My family spent their last decay not being bounded by to any country even by their own native homeland due to ethnic hatred. Looking down the landscape all I want is to be accepted by my new homeland.
I remember my dad’s sense of loyalty towards his family trying to get us out of his mother’s land so his sons don’t miss out on their education. But this arrival has confused every one of us.
Everything seems strange to me. The new atmosphere that feels isolating, the babble that I never can understand, the weird sporting games that never saw once in life or heard of all are making me feel as an alien. “Will my family ever be part of the wider Australian society?”, “will we ever be bonded to this country?” is circling 100 times questioning me.
The sun is blaring at Olympic Park today with my family gathered at the citizenship ceremony to finally call Australia their homeland. All I’m saying to myself be “we’ve made boy, no longer need to worry for my family’s sense of belonging”. The celebration is on in the hectares of green grass and trees with sunlight refracting through the atmosphere. Dad is enjoying with his friends celebrating his happiness. I hear his voice saying “becoming an Australian citizen is like joining a new family”. Now he sings the nationals anthem from the very bottom of his loyal heart. Everything has gone friendly and gorgeous even the weather that promised to rain but didn’t instead decided to take part in our celebration.