For the first time in my life, I talked to someone from Iraq, who had to flee his country because as a photojournalist, he received death threats aimed also at his family.
So off he went for a better living in Australia, and he ended up here in Indonesia pending an entrance visa. He's now staying at a center operated by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Cipayung, cluelessly waiting for his ticket out.
It could be months, years, or decades. No one knows.
He could go illegally with the help of "agents" who will smuggle them into a country. But a single trip on a rusty boat can set him back at least $8,000.
OK so I'm gonna save the details for my story ;p But what I do wanna say is that, I am grateful I live in a democratic country. No matter how messed up the system is, at least I don't have the ruling regime sending threats to my family just because I'm a journalist and abduct my father.
I'm glad because I can still bear with this country, and nothing has made me wanna risk my life and give all I have for a chance of hope. For a possibility to have a better life in the other side of the world, where really, luck is what you need the most.
Also, I'm glad that I'm not a single mother who cannot put their children in school and has to fly thousands of miles away to get better opportunities for them. Not even for her, because she is financially stable.
And where are her children now? The oldest is 10 years old, with zilch skill to write or read. He runs around the refugee center in Cipayung with a bottle of milk in his hands, sometimes playing with the volunteers in the small jungle gym they have.
May God protect their souls.
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