My name is Nimo Abdi Farah. I come from Somalia. I was born in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

When the war began, I was only 11 years old. It was 30 December 1990. We thought the war wouldn't go on go for long. My father decided to stay where he was, my mother said to my father, "If you stay here, we are all staying here with you."

Two years later, my parents and four of my cousins were killed in Mogadishu in our house, same time and same place. I was not there when they died. It was 1992 when that happened.

I was with my aunt at the time and a week later we decided to visit our parents. My Aunty said before we left her house, "Call me when you get there." We agreed.

When we came returned to our house, my brother saw that my parents and my cousins were lying on the floor and blood was everywhere. My brother asked me to go outside. He was crying and I didn't know what had happened to him. Before we came into the house, he was very happy.

When I saw he was crying and his shirt was bloody, I knew there was something going on in there, but I never thought that my parents and cousins were dead. My brother tried to call our Aunty as he wanted to tell her what happened there.

However the phone didn't work, because the enemy cut the lines before they left the house.

We couldn't do anything and we decided to stay where we were until someone arrived. We waited and waited, but nobody came. My aunt didn't hear any news from us, but we tried our best.

My aunt came to our house and then she asked us what happened. My brother broke the news to as best he could. She was very upset.

My Aunt said to me, "Come Nimo, we are going to another place." I left without knowing anything. We took our aunt's car and we went to my uncle's house, but he wasn't there.

By now, my family knew that the war was never going to stop. We went to Kismayo and we stayed there for two months.

Two months later the enemy came after us in Kismayo. They were not after only us, but they were many different families. We left Kismayo then we went to Kenya by foot, because the enemy had taken our cars away.

It took a long time. We stayed in Kenya a few months. The Kenyan Government said all Somalian people couldn't stay there any longer. We had to leave our country. Then we left Kenya and we went to different countries, because they wouldn't let us stay there.

From Kenya to Sudan then to Syria, then Turkey, Russia, Poland and finally we came to Denmark. In Denmark we were allowed to stay as long as we liked. They treated us like human beings. I will never forget what they did for my family. It was unbelievable and now I'm grateful.

When I went to Denmark, I was with my four cousins and we were all under the age of 18. We were without any adults. The problem was that we would have to go to foster care.

After a few months, my big sister came to Denmark. She is named Hari. We were very happy to see her and we could live together.

Most people who came to Denmark, they had to wait a long time for Permanent Residence. It took my sister four months. My cousins and I waited only 28 days. I guess we were lucky.

My cousins and I went to language school. We learnt a Danish language which took only six months to learn and in that time we lived with Danish foster parents.

When my sister obtained he Permanent Residence, we moved in with her. We lived in the third capital of Denmark called Odense. My aunt lived in the second capital of Denmark called Aanhus. They still live there.

In Denmark I began the school years 7,8,9 and 10. When I was in year 9, I went to a boarding school for only one year. After one year I finished, then I went to a normal school to finish year 10. I left boarding school because of my religion. I was worried a lot about losing my traditions. I decided to change my school and to do anything to keep my religion.

After I finished school in Denmark, I decided to visit my dear family in Australia. I hadn't seen them since I was a little girl. When I came to Australia, I was very happy to see them and they were very happy to see me.

When I came to the airport they didn't recognise me at all and I didn't recognise them either. Finally we found each other.

I came to Australia on 21st June, 1997, it was a Saturday and the weather was sunny. Now I'm planning a new future here and I'm a year 10 student at Banksia Secondary College. I want to learn English language a lot, because its important to my future.

When I was in Denmark, I learned Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and a little German.

I want someday to become a doctor, dentist, nurse, lawyer or social worker. I know it's very difficult, but I want to try anyway.

I know if I try, I can be somebody. I remember what my mother used to say to my sister's; "Work very hard and someday you can be what you really want."

God knows what will happen...