Polish Child Refugee

This week we had to make a story of what it would be like to be coming into New Zealand as a refugee. I really enjoyed writing mine because I think it has a great time line and it is really amusing though there are a few very sad parts but they are not that bad.  The book called refugee is a really good book so you could have a look at one day. Hope you enjoy!  

My name is Daria and I have lived in Poland all my life. I had never travelled out of Poland in my life. I am 14 years old and I am about to tell you my story and the terrible things that happened here in the past and the good things that happened when we went off to a children's camp in Wellington (New Zealand). So sit back and relax as I tell you my good but also bad and terrible experiences in my life story.

May 3 1944

MY family was one of those families that were struggling to even get food onto our table. Every day we only had about one serve of food and when we did have food to eat it never was enough to live off. One day my father Filip went off to work to get some money for the food while my mother stayed at home when me and my other two siblings were not yet old enough to go to school. That night my father did not come back from work. I did not yet know that that would have been the last time I saw my warm hearted father. The next day on the radio we heard that there had been a significant shooting that the Nazis were behind. They had gone to my fathers work and got everyone to stand in a long line and one by one the workers got shot, including my poor helpless father.

June 14 1944

Suddenly when we were all in our beds going to sleep BANG! CRASH! The Nazis had bombed peoples houses all around the street including ours. Mommy!, I heard both my siblings cry at the same time. If you are wondering, they are twins and their names are too long and boring for me to remember so I just call them my siblings or Twins. Great names aren’t they. Anyway that's enough of that. Twins come over here I yelled as I tried to find them in the smoke. Finally I found them and I got them safely outside but where was my mother oh no I cried she must still be in there stay there I told the twins as I plunged into the flames to find my mother. After a few minutes I found my mother and carried her in my arms out of the burning house and onto our lawn. Mum please wake up she coughed and sputtered and then she opened her eyes and said please Daria look after the twins and say to them that I love them. Her breathing stopped and I realised that she had just died right here and right now.

July 1 1944

We had all been told that all of us kids were going to be taken to a country where they would live in a children's camp and be safe forever so they thought. We all boarded the boats at 6am on the 1st of july. Soon enough they were on their way with all of the tiny little dingy to the safety of New Zealand. Most of the children were orphans whose parents had died or been killed and they were so happy to be going to a new country and being safer kids. Some of the children got incredibly sea sick. We tried to give them food but it eventually got vomited up and those poor kids ended up dying because the food that they were eating was staying in their body long enough. To see the people that I had actually made friends with die in the middle of the big scary ocean was quite sad and also worrying because I thought I might be next. In the distance I see hills, lots and lots of green bushy hills where I heard somebody exclaim and they were right, we were heading straight to the shores of New Zealand.

July 2 1944

We got of the boats and their waiting for us was a beautiful big train the adults that had come here with us told us to grab our things which was only really a few clothes and go hope into the train and find yourself and two more others if you wise a cabin that you will travel to wellington in is that clear, YES I heard all the kids yelling as they hurried over to the train to find the best cabin for them and a few mates. The train chugged away from the station and drove through lovely forests as green as the grass across fast flowing beautiful blue rivers as blue as the sky and up on the tops of the beautiful winding hills as tall as giraffes. It was the beautiful sight that I had seen in my whole entire life. I could see that I was not the only one looking out the windows because I could see that all of us polish children were staring out of the window at the beautiful countryside that New Zealand had to offer. We passed through little towns and villages and were greeted by young kids and adults waving to us and holding banners saying WELCOME TO NEW ZEAlAND. As we drove through the countryside there were animals that I had never seen before like Deer, Sheep, Cows and pukekos. I knew that these animals were probably also in Poland but I had never seen them because I lived in a big city not in the countryside. Well maybe not pukekos but everything else.

July 5 1944

We arrived at the children's camp on the 5th of july everybody was so excited that they would be safe forever. Well that is what they thought anyway. The children's camp was massive; it had rows and rows of little houses that she shared with two other girls. They ate in a huge hall lined with heaps of long tables and chairs. We got three meals a day and they were not actually that bad for a children's camp. We did school because they had turned one of the houses into a learning space. We usually learned more stuff about our home poland and then we also learned a little bit of New Zealand stuff and learnt some of their cool language. The camp had a huge field for all of us kids to play in and a little kids playground for the really young kids that came here. Every night I used to go to sleep straight away because there was no chaos and dream about the beautiful tree top birds.