State your exemptions msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
1 month old
MardinArvin
This article is more than 1 month old
I spent years on Manus Island and in hotel detention. Finally I can live like a regular human being
Refugee and writer Mardin Arvin in Melbourne after his release from hotel detention. Photograph: Charlie Collins/Supplied
Refugee and writer Mardin Arvin in Melbourne after his release from hotel detention. Photograph: Charlie Collins/Supplied
Tue 2 Mar 2021 11.30 EST
Last modified on Tue 16 Mar 2021 00.06 EDT
The wind blows. Languid. The wind is calm, swirling around my body. It feels good.
I watch the leaves shifting places across the ground, I reflect on the fact that no one is standing over me any more, no one is watching me.
Morning mail: Covid economy woes, Brexit deal expected, 2020 s funniest things msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
This article inspired me to start writing. I did not want to respond to them by adding a comment, so I started writing a short fictional story based on real events called Close the Eyes of Your Conscience.” It ended up getting published by Meanjin this September. I was not fluent in English so I wrote the story in Farsi. In January 2019 I met Omid Tofighian on Manus Island and I spoke to him about my writing. He was keen to translate it. This was the beginning of my collaboration with Omid, and we have produced a lot of work together since. We have plans to do a lot more. All the writing, translations and research is done on a mobile phone.