Death In Life

• Rawan Sattouf,
• Short Story
• 2018

The fresh air was blowing calmly and birds were singing. You could see a colourful rainbow shining over the small home of a 7-year-old girl called Rawan. She lived with her family in Baba Amur, Syria. Rawan had a normal beautiful life until the moment when everything changed.
She never imagined that one day she would have to choose between staying in her damaged house or running away to a new place. There was no time to think, Rawan was not by herself. Each one of her family was trying to comprehend that moment of farewell. Farewell to home, farewell to family and farewell to a world that was once understood.
When the journey started Rawan’s family decided to go to Jordan because torture and murder had become normal, everyday and every moment in their life. People were killed, and children were slaughtered in front of their parents’ eyes and vice versa. Families fleeing didn’t have enough food, water to drink and even milk to feed the newborns. Rawan couldn’t forget the images of the babies crying for food and her family panicking and trying to go to a safe area where they can find food, water to drink and safe houses to protect Rawan and her sisters and brothers.
When they were on their way to Jordan, they didn’t find any car to travel with, so they just found a sheep truck to travel with. The strong sheep smell made Rawan feel sick and felt like vomiting. While the truck was moving, there was a lot of sand winding around, and she felt short of breath and a high temperature.
Rawan held her mum’s hand tightly. She was so terrified and shocked to witness the death of two children. They died from the sand and a strong gas leakage. The truck had to stop two times so that families can bury their children. After all the hardships, they finally reached a safe land. However, a harder journey began. Would she ever belong to this new world? No words can explain her sacrifices. Rawan has to act like an adult and forget that she is only seven years old.
Rawan was a refugee who left a fingerprint in a new country and in the whole world like many others. When Rawan’s family arrived in Jordan they lived there for two and a half years and it was so difficult for them because Rawan wasn’t allowed to go to school and have fun like other kids. She felt like a 70-year-old in a strange country.
All Rawan wanted was to live her age and go to school. She wanted to live in peace with her family. All of her dreams came true when her Dad managed to get them out of Jordan to Australia. It was a new beginning. A new blank page where Rawan can write her own story.