After all these years, look at me and my situation now, I am an old lonely man, far away from my wife and children, sitting here in Australia and I cannot sleep without taking sleeping pills.
My name is Nazem. I arrived in Australia 8 years ago by boat. I came alone, leaving my wife and children back in Iraq because I knew the boat journey is very dangerous. Later, I was accepted as a refugee in Australia and obtained citizenship. I have tried different avenues but I am still waiting to be reunited with my family.
Back in Iraq, I was the head of a tribe that consisted of 4,000 men. After all these years, look at me and my situation now, I am an old lonely man, far away from my wife and children, sitting here in Australia and I cannot sleep without taking sleeping pills. I have diabetes and my feet is in a bad shape. At one stage my mental health got very bad and I started to hallucinate. I always feel very lonely and depressed.
I have 6 daughters and 1 son. My youngest daughter is 14. My oldest daughter got married but she is back at home with her child after her husband died in Iraq. So I am responsible for them as well. Men and women are not equal in Iraq. Women cannot go out. They cannot do anything.
What can I tell you about the condition of my family when they have not seen their fathers for 8 years? I was very close to my children. They had never left me for a single day before.
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