Video Transcription
Home Life
I believe every child would want to be part of a family who’s loving and can get along with each other, but unfortunately, that’s not the family I have. Home life is rough at the moment. I get conflicted: in one sense, it’ll be okay; here I go into another battle, or it’ll be here I go into a sanctuary. When I’m with my family, I don’t feel like I need to change anything about myself. My parents haven’t talked in years. Even though they haven’t divorced, we live in the same house; they just don’t talk to each other.
Every time they need to get messages across to each other, they tell us to. What happened between my mum and dad has really affected my sister and me. I know they love my sister and me, and we love them, but sometimes, with that whole lack of communication thing going on, we just don’t talk at all. Being a teen means that sometimes you do get frustrated, sometimes you do get fed up, sometimes you do just want to shut everything out.
I’m Sina, and I’m Muslim. I can’t express myself openly at home, or my mum might sometimes laugh, because she’ll think that I’m overemphasizing something, exaggerating it, making it seem bigger than it is. If I had to say something to my mum, I’d say that I love you, we have our differences, and so please don’t take it personally when something happens.
I’m Grace, and I was born in Kenya. I’m not straight; I’m bisexual, and I told my dad, and he’s like, “I love you, but I don’t support that lifestyle,” and I’m like, “Okay, all right.” What seems so right to me can seem so wrong to someone else. Yeah, it’s frustrating.
With my home situation, there’s a lot of sort of anxiety around how things will end up. My name’s Sophie, and I’m from Sydney. So, my mum was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2015, and at the beginning of last year, she became terminal. At first, it was quite a shock; I always thought my mum would be around, and knowing that she’s not gonna be around is really hard. Sometimes friends try to offer support, but it’s not necessarily the support you’re looking for or need. Someone having been through a similar experience can just really help you not feel alone.
Video by Reach Out
