By Vijaya Murugesu Vijaya Murugesu left Sri Lanka in 1997 to go to The Netherlands. She came to England in July 2004.
Vijaya
My name is Vijaya Murugesu. I left Sri Lanka in 1997 to go to The Netherlands and I married in1998. After four years my son Joshua was born. After that I came from The Netherlands to England in July 2004. I had decided that for a better future for my family I had to work to better my education.
The well
When I was seven years old I was playing with about eight or nine friends in my country, Sri Lanka. We were playing hide and seek. One of my friends was counting and as I was running to find a hiding place when I tripped over a stone. Suddenly I fell into a well. The well was about 10 metres deep.
When I fell in to the well I felt very afraid and I was crying and crying because I couldn't swim and the water was very cold. I was shaking and shivering and I felt like it was hell. I thought oh my god I am going to die. Oh my God please help me to save my life. I was drowning.
Suddenly a boy jumped in to the well and took me out of the water. I saw the sky again. There were so many people around the well. They were also crying and another boy put a step-ladder into the well. Then the boy and I came out of the well. I was very happy and relieved.
I had swallowed so much water that my stomach was swollen. A man squeezed my stomach to try to make me spit out the water. But I was still afraid. Oh thank you God I thought. I have got my life back again.
I will never forget this experience for rest of my life.