Hatem Ismaeil

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This is my life

This is a story about my life. I was born in Syria on April 20, 2011. Before, many years ago, a doctor told a mom “maybe your child, he will die.” The mother said, “no, he will live”. The baby came and he was only 1 kilo and the mom talked and talked to many doctors and the doctors said the same thing, that her child will die. It was very hard for me to eat, I had to have a tube in my throat to eat. After eight months, my nan said to my dad, “You must leave my home”. My dad didn’t have any money, he was broke. We had to move to Lebanon, it was my mom, my dad and me. We travelled there by bus. We stayed in a house that had 1 bedroom. My grandfather died on May 5, 2012 in Syria. After two years, my dad took me to have head surgery. My dad had to work a lot to save money for my surgery. The doctors said, “No, we can’t give him the operation”. They said no because it was too dangerous for my life so we couldn’t do anything. After 5 years, when I was 6 years old, I began to walk. I had to use a walker because my legs were not strong and had not developed enough. I was only able to talk when i was about 7 years old. I could say a few words like “Mama and Papa” but not a lot else. When I was eight, my teeth started to come in but they were very delicate and would break easily. In 2020, my dad received a call saying we could move to Canada. So now this meant my family would move to Canada. This included me, my mom, my dad and two brothers and one sister. A group helped my dad to buy 6 plane tickets. We packed 6 suitcases and came to Canada on July 17th, 2023. In March, 2024, I went to Clayton Park Junior High School. I was in Grade 7. The school is very close to my home. It was just a two minute walk. I like that part of the school. But It is 2026, I am 15. My brother is 12, the other brother is 6 and my sister is 4. The school was strict. By Hatem