Every family has a story.
My family’s story starts in South Africa. I remember being an adventurous child — I was curious about everything and loved to learn.
During apartheid people were segregated according to race in South Africa. That history means there are a lot of persisting issues of discrimination.
As we grew older my parents realised that our cultural background, being Indian, left us open to discrimination at every stage.
So, they made the difficult decision to leave in search of a better future for our family.
We moved around quite a bit before finally settling in Mildura.
I’ve now lived here for three years.
But even in Australia we still deal with discriminatory policies.
My family has been waiting for permanent residency for almost eight years.
Without an answer on permanent residency we don’t know if we’ll get citizenship at all, and I don’t know if we’ll always be foreigners in Australia.
This has affected us in so many ways.
We’ve been restricted as to where we can live.
My parents have had to take and retake arduous English tests to prove their level of proficiency.
But English is their first and only language.
It’s an expensive, stressful, and time-consuming process each time.
But worst of all, the only way a kid like me can even think of going to university is by getting a scholarship.
And there aren’t many of those that I’m eligible for without permanent residency or citizenship.
I love going to school here, I love being here with my family, and I love my community.
My family has grown so close since we moved, but watching the pressure my parents have been under because of long, drawn-out visa processes has been hard.
It’s also made me determined to give back — not just to them, but also to my community.
I want to study to become a doctor of medicine and specialise in a field that will give back to my community.
But if you’re not an Australian citizen you can’t go to TAFE or university without paying really high fees. And it means that it’s almost impossible for kids like me to reach our full potential.
Australia is multicultural but I wonder if we really embrace that?
We don’t talk enough about the reality that families, like mine, face.