Hafiza aims for Canberra

By Bridget Brady
HAFIZA Zahidee, 17, continues to be amazed by the good fortune she has enjoyed in Australia, and says her latest opportunity is no exception.
The Lyndhurst Secondary College student was one of 10 students in the City of Casey to win an Australia Day Tour Award, which entitles her to a visit to Parliament House in Canberra, and the 17-year-old said she wanted to make the most of it.
Hafiza left Jaghori in Afghanistan for Australia with her mother and siblings when she was 13. She had never heard of Australia.
“When I arrived in 2004 I knew a little bit of English but my accent was thick and people couldn’t understand me, so I was quiet,” she said.
Five years later, the Year 11 student plans to study law in Australia, and reap the rewards of a “lucky” country.
“There was not any fighting where I lived in Afghanistan but there could have been at any time. We were scared.
“Everything is different here, like technology, shopping centres and parks. Over there (Afghanistan) is just houses crammed together.”
Hafiza’s father arrived in Australia in 1999 to earn money and send it over to his family, but was taken to a detention centre when he first arrived. During the five-year absence when she did not see her father, Hafiza said she had no idea he was in Australia.
“I just thought he was away somewhere working.”
Her life in Cranbourne offered her an array of opportunities, she said.
“It’s very different to Afghanistan. You can’t even think of a similarity.
“I lived in a mud house. There are so many things you can do here. We can go to school and have a job and go on excursions through school.”
Hafiza said politics in Australia was “very straightforward” compared to Afghanistan.
“And you can’t bribe people easily, which is good.
“But no matter how bad it was, you never hate the place where you were born…I would love to go back to visit one day.”
Hafiza said she looked forward to learning how laws were implemented during her trip to Canberra in March.