Looking for the purpose of life
My life first started to take a turn when one day a really big, ugly Russian man came to our door and knocked so aggressively that the whole house shook. I was looking at him out of my window and I remember thinking I had never seen a man this tall. After he had been standing there for a few minutes, I decided I was going to open the door for him since no one else was. When I got out of my room, my mom ran right up to me and told me I had to hide because we were all in danger. She ran with me to our cellar and told me she was going back upstairs, and I had to lock the door. I told her I wanted her to stay but she didn’t listen. The last thing she told me was that she and my father loved me more than anything in the world. After that she ran up the stairs and closed the hatch and then I locked after her. My mother was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. She had this amazing long, raven black hair. At that moment I had no idea I would never get to touch that hair again.
The day Arnar told me the news I had just bought myself a beautiful red lip gloss that I could wear to our third anniversary dinner. But now there wasn’t going to be any dinner and no more lip glosses. The money we had left would only keep us going for about 2 months. If Arnar finds a job, before the money runs out, we’ll be okay. But finding a job these days is almost impossible. So if that doesn't happen I don't know what we’ll do.
After the noise of fighting I just sat there, listening. I was so hungry that I had a bit of my mom’s blueberry jam. Then I fell asleep. In the morning my grandmother found me in the cellar and told me: “We have to go now, take only the things you really need”. The only thing I took was a picture of my parents and my grandmother grabbed her saucepan as we ran to the train station.
Arnar has been so worried for the last few days that I’m starting to get worried if he’ll ever get over this. We still have a little money left but we've decided to save it. Hopefully, we can use it to help us to get to a better place. Our plan is to get away from Iceland and land a job somewhere in Europe. But I don’t know if that will happen or not. We’ll just have to hope and see.
Me and my grandmother got on a train and the trip was horrible! The train wagon was crowded with people and creatures, it smelled awful. There were cows, chickens and crying children. After many days we got to the middle of Finland to a place called Jyväskylä. When we got there my grandmother said: “I’m not young anymore. I don’t know how I can take care of you. This is a really hard decision. I love you so much, but you have your whole life in front on you. I don’t want to slow you down on the way to a better life.” We cried as we held each other in our arms.
“Just click the button” I said to Arnar. He pushed it and the sound of the click I'll never forget. This was the last money we had and now it was gone. 3 days from now we would be flying to The Elongated Country also called Sweden. There we would build a happier and better life for ourselves.
The last evening with my grandmother. She gave me her most valuable necklace and then she put me on a train. I didn’t know where I was going, this train ride was also awful. But on that train there were a lot of kids who had also lost their mothers and fathers. I talked to those kids and we took care of each other.
As we stopped at the red light on our way to the airport in the bus we decided to say goodbye to everything we loved seeing every day. “Goodbye to the beautiful sunsets and goodbye to the icy cold.” Arnar said “Goodbye beautiful mountains and goodbye to my neighbours cat! We will miss you and we will see you again.” We laughed and hugged as the light turned green again.
I travelled about one week in trains and ships. The staff gave me some food and water. Not much but I wasn’t hungry or thirsty. I was still all alone, I sometimes cried and missed my parents and grandma. I hadn’t had a shower for weeks so I smelled terrible. Finally my trip came to an end, we were in a another country. The country was beautiful. Then me and all the other kids got in a car and we drove off to the orphanage.
The flight was really uncomfortable. I was so hungry but we didn’t have any money and therefore we couldn’t buy any food. But I knew at that time it was going to get better. In Sweden, Stockholm the first thing we were going to do was find Arnar’s aunt who could get us a job, get some money, make everything go back to the way it was before. I really believed that it was going to be the same.
After being at the orphanage for a couple of weeks I hadn’t talked much. A lot of people who wanted to adopt kids came in and all of the kids screamed at them “take me, take me!” I wasn't like other kids. I didn’t want to go with these people.
The first day of my new job wasn’t so bad. Selling croissants and bread to people was an easy way to make money compared to other jobs I have had in the past. Seeing kids smile and thank me for selling them donuts really gave me a purpose again. Arnar got a job at a pizza place but he doesn't like it as much. He says people can get very rude and that the manager was an asshole. I think he should just be grateful for getting a job that isn't dangerous, at least I'm grateful for that. Without Arnar I don't know what I would do.
“When a kid turns 7-year-old she/he has to go to work”. This text was in the rule book of the orphanage. I had go to get a job and I found a bakery. There was only one problem: I couldn’t speak Swedish.
One day when I was at work I saw this little girl. I hadn’t noticed her before, she was very small and had this amazing raven black hair. She was looking at me and when I noticed I looked back at her. Her eyes were so blue it reminded me of the sky on a sunny day in Iceland. Those days were the best. When she noticed me looking back at her she panicked and looked away. There was something about her. Something I had to get to know. That little girl was very hurt, that little girl was special.
After about a year I spoke Swedish good enough. I opened my mouth and said “hejsan” to the bakery’s beautiful woman who waved at me. The woman looked just like my mother but without her amazing black hair.
When the girl looked at me again I decided I would wave to her. Then she very weakly said ”hejsan” which means hello in Swedish. I then walked up to her and hugged her, I knew that that was what she needed. This girl needed to be bathed in love.
A hug was a thing a hadn't had since I was with my grandmother. The woman told me her name was Jóhanna, that was a name I hadn't heard before, but I thought it was beautiful. I told Jóhanna that my name was Helga and that I was an orphan. Jóhanna was the nicest person I had met all my life. She gave me some donuts to eat and wanted me to tell to her my story. That's what I did. After that, she came to watch me at the orphanage and gave me some muffins. Her husband came too. He is nice but a bit more shy and didn't talk to me as much.
After many months of visiting Helga we could finally adopt her. Our financial status was finally good enough to take care of one more person. Arnar got a raise and is now the manager of Rizzo's pizzaria”. I myself got a little raise but not so much. The day we told Helga that she was coming home with us was amazing. Her smile and eyes shone of happiness. Arnar was actually the one who wanted to adopt her. The presence of Helga in his life has also given him a purpose in life. We really wanted to become parents and help this amazing little girl.
April 10th 1999
Today was the day. The day me and Arnar became parents. The day Helga became one of us. Bringing Helga home was like a dream. Her screaming out of happiness when she saw her room with pink walls, a pink bed and pink curtains. Her hugging us endlessly and happy tears running down her cheeks. I really hope those tears were happy tears because this girl really deserved this. This girl was about to be bathed with love.
Soffía Sól and Mintuu
The day Arnar told me the news I had just bought myself a beautiful red lip gloss that I could wear to our third anniversary dinner. But now there wasn’t going to be any dinner and no more lip glosses. The money we had left would only keep us going for about 2 months. If Arnar finds a job, before the money runs out, we’ll be okay. But finding a job these days is almost impossible. So if that doesn't happen I don't know what we’ll do.
After the noise of fighting I just sat there, listening. I was so hungry that I had a bit of my mom’s blueberry jam. Then I fell asleep. In the morning my grandmother found me in the cellar and told me: “We have to go now, take only the things you really need”. The only thing I took was a picture of my parents and my grandmother grabbed her saucepan as we ran to the train station.
Arnar has been so worried for the last few days that I’m starting to get worried if he’ll ever get over this. We still have a little money left but we've decided to save it. Hopefully, we can use it to help us to get to a better place. Our plan is to get away from Iceland and land a job somewhere in Europe. But I don’t know if that will happen or not. We’ll just have to hope and see.
Me and my grandmother got on a train and the trip was horrible! The train wagon was crowded with people and creatures, it smelled awful. There were cows, chickens and crying children. After many days we got to the middle of Finland to a place called Jyväskylä. When we got there my grandmother said: “I’m not young anymore. I don’t know how I can take care of you. This is a really hard decision. I love you so much, but you have your whole life in front on you. I don’t want to slow you down on the way to a better life.” We cried as we held each other in our arms.
“Just click the button” I said to Arnar. He pushed it and the sound of the click I'll never forget. This was the last money we had and now it was gone. 3 days from now we would be flying to The Elongated Country also called Sweden. There we would build a happier and better life for ourselves.
The last evening with my grandmother. She gave me her most valuable necklace and then she put me on a train. I didn’t know where I was going, this train ride was also awful. But on that train there were a lot of kids who had also lost their mothers and fathers. I talked to those kids and we took care of each other.
As we stopped at the red light on our way to the airport in the bus we decided to say goodbye to everything we loved seeing every day. “Goodbye to the beautiful sunsets and goodbye to the icy cold.” Arnar said “Goodbye beautiful mountains and goodbye to my neighbours cat! We will miss you and we will see you again.” We laughed and hugged as the light turned green again.
I travelled about one week in trains and ships. The staff gave me some food and water. Not much but I wasn’t hungry or thirsty. I was still all alone, I sometimes cried and missed my parents and grandma. I hadn’t had a shower for weeks so I smelled terrible. Finally my trip came to an end, we were in a another country. The country was beautiful. Then me and all the other kids got in a car and we drove off to the orphanage.
The flight was really uncomfortable. I was so hungry but we didn’t have any money and therefore we couldn’t buy any food. But I knew at that time it was going to get better. In Sweden, Stockholm the first thing we were going to do was find Arnar’s aunt who could get us a job, get some money, make everything go back to the way it was before. I really believed that it was going to be the same.
After being at the orphanage for a couple of weeks I hadn’t talked much. A lot of people who wanted to adopt kids came in and all of the kids screamed at them “take me, take me!” I wasn't like other kids. I didn’t want to go with these people.
The first day of my new job wasn’t so bad. Selling croissants and bread to people was an easy way to make money compared to other jobs I have had in the past. Seeing kids smile and thank me for selling them donuts really gave me a purpose again. Arnar got a job at a pizza place but he doesn't like it as much. He says people can get very rude and that the manager was an asshole. I think he should just be grateful for getting a job that isn't dangerous, at least I'm grateful for that. Without Arnar I don't know what I would do.
“When a kid turns 7-year-old she/he has to go to work”. This text was in the rule book of the orphanage. I had go to get a job and I found a bakery. There was only one problem: I couldn’t speak Swedish.
One day when I was at work I saw this little girl. I hadn’t noticed her before, she was very small and had this amazing raven black hair. She was looking at me and when I noticed I looked back at her. Her eyes were so blue it reminded me of the sky on a sunny day in Iceland. Those days were the best. When she noticed me looking back at her she panicked and looked away. There was something about her. Something I had to get to know. That little girl was very hurt, that little girl was special.
After about a year I spoke Swedish good enough. I opened my mouth and said “hejsan” to the bakery’s beautiful woman who waved at me. The woman looked just like my mother but without her amazing black hair.
When the girl looked at me again I decided I would wave to her. Then she very weakly said ”hejsan” which means hello in Swedish. I then walked up to her and hugged her, I knew that that was what she needed. This girl needed to be bathed in love.
A hug was a thing a hadn't had since I was with my grandmother. The woman told me her name was Jóhanna, that was a name I hadn't heard before, but I thought it was beautiful. I told Jóhanna that my name was Helga and that I was an orphan. Jóhanna was the nicest person I had met all my life. She gave me some donuts to eat and wanted me to tell to her my story. That's what I did. After that, she came to watch me at the orphanage and gave me some muffins. Her husband came too. He is nice but a bit more shy and didn't talk to me as much.
After many months of visiting Helga we could finally adopt her. Our financial status was finally good enough to take care of one more person. Arnar got a raise and is now the manager of Rizzo's pizzaria”. I myself got a little raise but not so much. The day we told Helga that she was coming home with us was amazing. Her smile and eyes shone of happiness. Arnar was actually the one who wanted to adopt her. The presence of Helga in his life has also given him a purpose in life. We really wanted to become parents and help this amazing little girl.
April 10th 1999
Today was the day. The day me and Arnar became parents. The day Helga became one of us. Bringing Helga home was like a dream. Her screaming out of happiness when she saw her room with pink walls, a pink bed and pink curtains. Her hugging us endlessly and happy tears running down her cheeks. I really hope those tears were happy tears because this girl really deserved this. This girl was about to be bathed with love.
Soffía Sól and Mintuu