When Anna was only eight years old, her mother told her that they were going to leave their home and move to England.
“Your father needs to find a job so that we can earn money to support your grandparents and your aunt,” Anna’s mother explained.
The young girl didn’t want to leave her home in Manila, a very large city in the Philippines, and she was very sad when her mother told her this news.
“But what about all my friends?” Anna asked. “I don’t know anyone in England, and I’ll be all alone.”
Her mother assured Anna that it would be an exciting adventure for all three of them and that Anna would make lots of new friends when she started school in England. Anna was not convinced by her mother’s kind words. She liked her home as it was now, and she liked going to school where she knew all the teachers and already had many friends.
“I don’t see why we have to move all the way to England,” Anna thought the night before the family was supposed to leave.
“I don’t know anything about England. I don’t even speak much English, and I’m going to be all alone!”
This made Anna even sadder, and she wished with all her heart that she could stay in Manila with her aunt or her grandparents.
The journey was very long, and Anna was overwhelmed by the big airplane and all the people rushing around at the airport.
When the family finally arrived in England, everything seemed strange, and she was sure that everyone was looking at her. The buildings in the city of Birmingham were big and gray, and Anna didn’t feel at home at all.
The first month flew by as the family found a house to live in, and Anna’s father went out looking for work so he could send money back to the rest of the family in the Philippines.
Anna was very lonely, and even though her mother played games with her and took her out to see lots of exciting things, Anna missed her friends very much and couldn’t help but feel that she was all alone in the new city. At night, she cried in her bed, and she often dreamed that her father would wake her up the next day and tell her they were going home. But every morning, Anna woke up and realized that she might never go home again.
One morning, while she was eating breakfast, Anna’s mother decided that Anna should start going to school.
“It will be so nice for you to get out of the house and meet new friends,” her mother said.
But Anna was not happy to hear this news. She missed her friends back home, and even though she wanted to get out of the house more, she was afraid to go to school because she didn’t know anyone. Anna had seen many children when she and her mother explored the city, but none of them had talked to her, and she didn’t speak much English, which she knew would be difficult at school.
When the morning came, Anna tried to pretend that she had a fever and was too sick for school, but her mother could always tell when Anna was pretending to be sick, so she was forced to get dressed and eat breakfast.
Anna and her mother walked hand in hand all the way to the school gates, where they were greeted by a teacher named Mrs. Murry. The teacher was very kind and welcomed Anna to the school, telling Anna’s mother that she could come and pick her daughter up again at three o’clock.
The morning passed quickly as Anna was introduced to several teachers and lots of children, all of whom smiled and said hello. Anna didn’t understand much of what was being said to her, but it was explained that in the afternoon, she would go to a special class with other children who had moved to England from all over the world.
When Anna arrived at the classroom later in the afternoon, she knocked on the door and walked in. She was very nervous and also very tired after such a long day of meeting strangers. But when she entered, she was greeted with a big smile by Mrs. Mahmood, who was from Pakistan.
“Come in, Anna,” said the kind teacher. “Today, we are reading a book, and later we will play some games and paint.”
The young girl noticed that all the children in the classroom were very different from each other. There was a boy from Zimbabwe and two girls from Poland. There was an older girl from Albania and a boy who was even younger than Anna, who said he was from Iran. And to her great surprise, sitting at the back of the classroom was a young girl named Calia, who was also from the Philippines!
“Come over here and sit next to me!” said Calia, who was just as surprised as Anna.
The two girls quickly became friends as Calia explained everything about how they were learning to speak English with Mrs. Mahmood, who was the best teacher in the whole world.
That afternoon, Anna talked to each of the children in the class, and even though she didn’t always understand what they were saying, she knew one thing for sure: all the children had come to England to start a new life, and even though it was sometimes scary to be in a new place where you didn’t speak the language, there was always someone around who would help. And no matter where you went in the world, you would always find a friend. Anna also realized that she would never be alone. England was her new home, and she would make the best of it no matter what.
