The Voyage to New Zealand

Hello, my name is Alorane Grayson. I’m 15 years old and I live with my family and extended family in London.

 My mother says that our house is too small for all of us, I agree with her. We wish to get a bigger house but we don’t have enough money. I also wish to go to school but my parents cannot afford to send me to one. I would work so I can pay for my school tuitions but there aren’t enough job opportunities for me.

I went outside to try and get some fresh air. As I was pacing backwards and forwards, a flyer flew past me. Being a curious person, I chase after the flyer. I grab the flyer and inspect it. Reading everything, even the tiniest of writing. The letter says ‘Tired of being unemployed? Tired of crowded houses? Tired of living this lifestyle? Move to New Zealand. Where you can start a new beginning!’ This is interesting I thought to myself as I ran home with the flyer in hand.

 I push the door open and head straight to the kitchen. “Hey, where have you been?” My mum asks me. “Just went to get some fresh air”, I reply. The silence grew and I decided to break it by giving her the flyer I found. “It’s a flyer about moving to this country called New Zealand”, I explained. My mum took the flyer out of my hand and started to read it. “I think it will be a good chance for us to get out of here”, I continued. She hands the flyer to my dad. The silence grew again and the only sound I could hear was the sound of my mum sipping her coffee. “Where’d you find this?” My dad says as he breaks the silence. “It flew past me and so I ran after it”, I tell him. “Even if it’s a good idea we cannot afford the cost of transport”, my mum says. “But we can save up for it”, I say as my smile turns to a frown. “We’ll think about it”, was the last thing my mother says as she ushered me to my room.

1 Week Later

“We’ve thought about it”, my mum says as she hands me back the flyer. I stay quiet waiting for her to continue what she’s saying. “We’ll go… Well, we’ll try to go, she continues. “Do we have enough money now?” I ask. “We’ve decided that your Uncle, Auntie, and cousin will be left behind. While me, your father, your brother, and you will be going”, she replies. “Have you told Uncle and Auntie?” I ask concerned. “Yes, we have”, my mother says.

 With that, I go back to my room and plop on my bed while thinking about the new we will experience.

2 Weeks Later

Here we are boarding the ship. We could only afford the cheapest ticket, which cost £15 each. My parents told me that we're stuck in the ship for 75-120 days and that's why the tickets cost £15.

 Once we enter the ship, I see beds everywhere. Are these for the passengers? I think to myself. We make our way to some of the empty beds and set our bags down. “I guess this is what we’ll be sleeping”, my mum tells us.

As nighttime comes we were served with food. But the meat is hard, and I think I saw a cockroach just before I got my food. “Are these fresh?” I asked my dad. “I don’t think so. They taste almost like they’ve been preserved. They also taste a bit salty don’t you think?” My dad answers. "Is this the type of food we'll be eating for this long voyage?" I ask my parents. "I think so", my mum replies.

A Few Hours Later

 We were getting ready to sleep when I saw something crawling on the floor next to some of the passengers' beds. "Are ships normally infested with insects?" I ask myself. I scratch away the thought and tried to focus on sleeping.

In the Morning

I feel the cold wooden floor beneath my feet as I step out of my bed, or so that's what I expected, but instead, I felt the damp floor. "Damp?" I ask myself. "Did water get in the ship overnight?" I ask myself again. I push the thought away and get ready for breakfast.

 We were served with potatoes for breakfast. I'm a little disappointed, I was hoping for some fruit.

As days past, we were served with the same food and our beds are constantly wet. I'm also now convinced that this ship is infested with insects.

120 Days Later

We're finally here, I shout mentally. After that horrible journey, I'm glad we're here.

 My family and I started walking away from the ship. Searching for any sort of shelter, and workplaces that we could go to. “The flyer promised a new beginning”, my mum says. “Yeah, I know. But this place isn’t even full of people. I thought this place would have many workplaces and shelter”, my dad replies. As we go deeper into the country the hope of a new beginning starts to fade, we’d been walking for about 2 hours now. We kept walking until we saw a group of men that look like they’re wearing uniforms. “Hello! May we ask for help?” My dad asks them. The group of men walk towards us. “What are you here for?” They ask us. “We came here from London and we saw this flyer and it says if we go here a new beginning awaits us.” My father explains. “Well hello, you’re from London you say? Well, we’re from Europe, and oh you were talking about a new beginning? Oh, I think you’ve been fooled, my friend. There is no new beginning. This country is filled with people who cannot speak English and we are the ones that are trying to colonise them. This new beginning you speak of is not here.” One of the men says as he chuckles. “Then what about that flyer? It said that we were able to have a new beginning.” My mother tells him. “My dear, that is not true. There is no beginning, no work, no shelter. It was probably a bunch of lies.” He says. “Unless you are willing to work with us to colonise the native people of New Zealand. Help us take over this country.” He continues. “No. We will not.” My father replies. “Very well then. Get out of our sight.” He says as we get ready to leave.

 Where will we go now? I blame myself for getting my family into this. It’s just that the flyer looked so promising. I was really hoping that we’d get a new beginning.

1 Year Later

 Ever since we arrived, life has not been going good for us, though we found a small shelter fit enough for all 4 of us. We manage to get through the help of other people. We have this community where we all help each other out, and I’m glad we have it because if we didn’t then our family would never survive a year here.

 Maybe you’re thinking “Why don’t you just go back to London?” Well here’s my answer. We used all of our money to get here, so now we’re penniless. I hope someday we will be able to go back there.

Maybe, just maybe, someday our situation will get better. When it gets better we will send money to my Uncle and Auntie, and together we’d get out of the horrible situations we are in right now. I’m keeping my hopes us because I know nothing is impossible.