So close and yet so far apart...

    When the school finished, Saranda saw the familiar car waiting outside her school.     "Mrs Hysa," she screamed in panic and sat inside the car thinking something...

DOHA

    Saranda closely watched the girl sitting next to her. She was also new, in this country, in this Islamic College. Doha was her name. She was quiet and shy always hiding behind her...

KATHY - AN ABORIGINAL GIRL

Just as the first light appeared in the morning, they heard a scream.    "That was Mum!" Saranda cried, jumping up from bed. "Something's wrong!" She ran to the door.    "It's one...

WELCOME TO DARK AND SHADOWLESS WORLD

   The sky was dull and grey with black and purple tingles. Saranda felt along their low spiky fence with her hand till she found the gate. The front litghts from Mrs Hysa's car outlined the...

UPDATE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE WARS IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

During the final months of the Bosnian War, nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys were systematically killed in the fallen U.N enclave of Sebrenica - the worst European massacre since WWII. On June 10,...

LOST June 2000

     It's still too hot, Saranda thought as she walked next to Mum and Mrs Hysa through the narrow crowded South Terrace and listening to their conversation about Islam. She was...

ALBANIANS AND AUSTRALIANS - What do they have in common?

     Next Sunday morning they went to visit George. Mrs Hysa offered to take them there in her big, white Holden as Dad's old car broke down. Slowly moving through the inner city...

DO YOU REMEMBER THE FREEZING, SNOWY WINTER IN KOSOVO?

        Saranda peeping out the widnow and touching her golden chain whispered to the darkness: " If I were a golden ray of ligth I could see you Granny up in the sky..." Then...

I ONLY WANTED TO SEE THE CITY

    Mrs Hysa jumpped from her white Holden and hugged her tightly: " Sweetheart, we have been thinking about calling the police."     Saranda smiled at her apologetically:...

SARANDA MEETS JACK

   The sun went down, the stars came out. She touched her tiny golden sun. Which one is her Grandmother's star? Her heart thumped from the effort of running so long and her legs ached too....

BULLYING ON A SCHOOL YARD

    The siren went and all the students rushed to their lockers. Saranda kept gazing at the book. She couldn't understand it. All the work and the effort turned out to be no more effective...

PART 2: SARANDA'S LIFE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

     THE CALL TO PRAYER /February 2000/     The waves washed in and out, people slopped and slapped on the shore. The air smelt of salt and fish. Saranda could feel...

OUR BRIEF EXISTENCE, HERE ON EARTH...

     Next morning some strange men waited for Mum and Dad in the entrance hall. They had tired looks on their faces and held many forms. Mum quickly ushered Dardon and Saranda outside...

WE ARE ALLOWED TO STAY

     A few weeks past, Saranda was doing her everyday praying, English studying and looking after Victor with absent-minded care. Her thoughts were back in Kosovo. There was a talk...

A picture of a colourful shell to send home

Sarnda burst into her Mum's room. Mum was reading a lettter and two more were lying on her knee. Victor had already grabbed one and put it straight into his mouth. Saranda, twisting the lock of her...

OUR WAR IS OVER. /March 1999 - June 1999/

     Saranda felt awful. She lowered herself into the beanbag in the empty communal room and absent-mindedly watched 'Neighbours'. She always came here at this time when other kids...