My main hope is to bring my family here to Australia. Over the years I’ve talked to my wife and kids. I try and be strong. I tell them, slowly change will come, there is a process. As soon as I can get the permanent visa, I will sponsor them. Thinking of this keeps us going, it gives us hope. The idea of being together again makes us happy. I want to be with my family. Families belong together. My family can’t buy any house or land to live on in Bangladesh because they say we – the Rohingya people – don’t belong there. Yet I can’t buy a home here in Australia either as I’ve only ever held a temporary visa. I’ve been saving money but it is no use. I long to buy a home for my family here. The Australian government knows that my family are in Bangladesh and I am here. Alone. They know we are apart. And yet nothing changes. 84 Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness | Understanding Statelessness in Australia The hardest part is that Myanmar says we don’t belong. I come here and the Australian government say slowly, slowly, step-by-step. So where do I go? What can I do? No country says I belong. My hope is to one day live together with my family and to have a good life with my children. I have a dream to see my children get an education. My daughter wants to be a doctor. My son has a brain for business – he’s always thinking up ideas, his brain is always busy. But they don’t get a proper education in the refugee camp. What is their future there? I tell my wife we need to be patient. Wait. I tell her to talk to God. If I don’t have permanency, citizenship, I have no future. So still, I wait. (December 2023)