Dalya Sabawi

Dalya Sabawi was born in 1982 in Saudi Arabia, migrating to Australia as a 5 year old, with her family. Her father was Palestinian, from Gaza, and her mother is Egyptian. She has spent time across her life moving between living in the Middle East, including Palestine, and Australia.

Dalya reflected on her ideas of statelessness, explaining that “You need that sense of settlement, and to be belonging somewhere, to know that you’re not going to be kicked out to another country or to be moving from one country to another, you can just start with your life, and you’re settled. It’s a horrible feeling, I reckon, people that are stateless. And they’re just lost and they wanna be able to start a life, for the kids. It’s usually that, just being comfortable, and knowing you’re belonging to here. And then no worries after that. No worries after that.”

Dalya Sabawi was interviewed for the National Library of Australia oral history collection. Her interview and transcript can be access through their website.