Snakes and Ladders

Today I will have my freedom. Tomorrow I still hope for freedom. It is another day. I feel exhausted.

I am on a journey and I don’t know where it will end. It is a long route that I was not prepared for. It is uncertain, like walking in the desert only to emerge after many years. I can’t succeed without people around me. People who don’t judge me, who don’t see me as a number or a label, someone without papers.

The year has passed. My friend has been given family reunion with their kids. A light of hope. I am close. I am hoping again. I am confused. If only I had known it would take decades for me to win my case, that I would have hope one day. It is a mystery.

I feel like I am in a game of snakes and ladders. I am still hoping for freedom.

The journey is complete. It is Christmas now, almost the end of the year. I am still hoping the new year will be better. I can feel it now. I feel hope again. I feel like a citizen. It has taken me a few months to realise that I am not living my previous life. I can say I had two lives. The old and the new.

I don’t worry anymore. I am used to my good friends and I have met new friends too. I am getting used to the new situation. I have my papers. I have my freedom now. I can look to the future.