“The Happiest Refugee” is a great story of courage in the face of huge problems, so is “Home to Mother“. Anh Do’s story is one of escaping, at the age of two and a half, with his family to a better life. Molly’s story was escaping a harsh new life to return to the safety and comfort of her family. Anh Do tells his families’ true story while Molly’s story is written by her daughter Doris Pilkington Garimara who retells the events her mother experienced at age 14. “The Happiest Refugee” describes events that happened in the 1970’s, just after the Vietnam War ended, and tells about the flight to freedom of one refugee family. The events in “Home to Mother” happened much earlier in Australia’s history, during the winter of 1931 when Aboriginal children who had white fathers were automatically taken away from their families by the authorities to be ‘educated’ in Native Settlements. Molly leads her sister and cousin on an amazingly difficult and dangerous journery to find the ‘rabbit-proof fence’ that will guide them 2,500 kilometres home.

I wonder…
What incidents in each of these ture stories captured your imagination and gave you a new understanding of refugees/stolen generation?
What issues and challenges were faced by Anh, Molly and the family members who were with them on their dangerous journeys?
What similarities and differences can be seen in the two stories?
Which text “The Happiest Refugee“, or “Home to Mother” influenced you the most and why?