Ask Steph

So many stories start with those words.  Funny stories , sad stories , tragedies ... it's hard not to add on your own leanings as you hear or read them. So much is going around about  Oscar Pistorius at the moment, opinions, strong feelings, some fanaticism on both sides of the fence. I'm not going to go through what I think, I do believe there is far too much pre-judging going on at the moment, but I will share with you something that happened to me about 4 days go, and let you draw your own conclusions. I woke up around 5:30 am , unable to sleep, it was a hot muggy night and morning ( Melbourne has been averaging the high 30's for the last week , with unbearable humidity ) . I was feeling down , as my mother's visit was coming to an end , and all of this added up to me being unable to sleep very well. It was pitch dark in our room, the blinds are flipping brilliant at blocking out almost every smidgen of ambient and street light . I got up quietly , so a...

There are the things that you don't really understand when you decide to migrate , and it's probably a good thing . If you did , you may never leave and go on your grand adventure. You know it will be hard . You tell yourself it's going to be tough, you prepare for the things you expect, like feeling homesick , and not knowing how anything works. There are a number of things I could write about , that most migration websites and migrant support groups don't really tell you. But for now , I'd like to share something that has been a tough spot for me , for the last week or so. You can't really prepare for what it feels like , when someone dies back home. There's grief.  And then there's migrant guilt-ridden grief.