Then and Now by Mustafa Al Momani Posted by Posted by Imogen Loakman on 2 March 2016 Posted on: 2 March 2016

This is a piece of creative writing that Mustafa Al Momani has written for his English NCEA Level 1 task.

My Home Jordan,

Then: I was born in Amman, Jordan and lived there for 11 years. I lived in a really old house with a curved rock door. I felt safe because my family were all around the neighbourhood. We had no car so we always caught the bus and walked - because my dad wasn't there. It was a very dry area- few flowers, vegetables in winter stored for the next season. I can smell the dry heat. At night time lots of smells from foods like kebabs lots of people around and the ice cream really soft and nice. There was no wind and lots of birds were whistling. It was always blue sky, dry land and beautiful at night time felt relaxed and calm.

Now: when I returned there for a visit then I was shocked that there were a lot of people because they came to Jordan to keep safe from the war. The people were sleeping outside of the motorway in tents and without tents. It was too hot to sleep outside. It was so noisy lots of traffic and people are everywhere. The people were from all over the world. There a lot of black people from Africa. I smelled the diesel from the traffic because the drivers were hitting the gas too hard. The cars were revving at traffic lights, motorways and everywhere. I felt hot, I can see the heat going up from the ground. So many people and lots of activity. I was so shocked too many people and everything turned expensive now. It was the same blue sky but I hardly can hear the birds whistling.

When I went back to New Zealand then I felt that it is different from Jordan. New Zealand is my home and I am living here. Here we have green grass everywhere plus plenty of forests. I am happy that it was safe for my Jordan family, but sad for them because they live there not in New Zealand.

Story taken from Christchurch's Enabling Good Lives Newsletter | Summer 2015