Success Story - A story of strength, courage and spirit
When she was just seven years old, Acee and her family fled their native war-torn country of Liberia in search of a safer place to live.
Her new life in Ivory Coast was disrupted in 2002 when soldiers came into 19-year-old Acee's school and began shooting. Fearing for her life, she ran from the school and fled to Guinea, carrying her six-month-old daughter Deybeh with her and leaving behind her parents and five sisters.
'It was very hard to separate from each other but I just had to run for my life,' Acee said. 'I was very afraid. They killed many people.'
She hasn't seen her family since.
For three days Acee walked the long and dangerous route to Guinea, asking anyone she met for food and water.
'We walked through the night and the day,' Acee said.
'We couldn't get any food because if you don't have money, how do you buy food?
'It was very difficult. All of my journeys have been hard.'
It wasn't until she arrived in Australia that Acee was able to sleep soundly with four walls around her. She was resettled here in October 2005 as a refugee under the Humanitarian Programme.
'I was not expecting to be accepted [for resettlement] but I really wanted to come to Australia because of the opportunities here,' she said.
Acee is still adjusting to life in Australia and finds the Australian way of speaking particularly difficult to understand. She is learning English though, and wants to study beauty care and eventually become a beautician.
She is happy to be in Australia and grateful for the opportunities that she and her daughter will have in the future.
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