You're tuned into the war blues on three community radio. That gorgeous track that. You heard that. I was dancing around to like a maniac in this room was. Don't you worry by electric fields from their two thousand and sixteen ep in moss spot. I n a so the long easter weekend. Which i'm still celebrating. I spoke to bob. Hawke sayyed alkyl back to introduce themselves but before we do. I want everyone to read their article and new generation of australian war criminals in mention quarterly. It's an essay that got bob hawke trolled and unfairly attacked by certain australian publications all because but bach dead to comment. On the barrington report. Barrington report is a report that outlined allegations of war crimes committed by soldiers serving with australian defence force before burbach shares. What the experience was like in the second half of our interview We want to first of all. Get to know. Becca be who is incredible person that i was so lucky to chatter. Bobek i. I'm a writer editor. On an artist. I kind of previously was a social worker youth worker And still in some capacity. I feel like. I'm involved in his goals. In like community initiatives But like bit differently. Now because i'm not organizationally bound up in a way that wasn't a post on. Which has its pros and cons. I think And yeah and then. I'm currently On a on a novel and as well as just like writing things here and there as well. Wow okay you'll pretty busy. I'm surprised you were able to squeeze in. Bob not gonna lie okay. So let's stop from the beginning like us your third culture kid. I'm not sure if you refer to yourself as such but you've moved around quite a bit where were you born. And how many places have you called home. i think i like the time if they're culture kid. I think you know. It's like one of many second constellation of terminologies unlike phrases that we try to use to approximate some sense of our complex selves right. So i think it's a good one to add to the toolkit yes. I was born in perth In a very tiny afghan community that existed there. We want the first families that moved To perth specifically chain migration So my uncle was the very first And brought along and so they over the decades more and more afghans have gathered there But it's still very small community Especially compared to the you know western sydney And dandenong communities in melbourne and sydney on on the east coast which which are way So i think really early on developed to a strong kinda of like insular island mentality where you kind of acutely aware that you are in short supply in a place like And then and then. When i was For high school. Back when i was about twelve thirteen Moved to the states To kind of be closer to My mom's side of the family To yeah in in virginia as much bigger african community Suddenly i was kinda thrown into a very different a setup where like public school. Everyone's have kind of an. It was cool for different reasons. I mean and i definitely prefer it that way in the sense of like finally being around people and not having that like weird outsider Suddenly like you know in a place like this even though it's kind of still we're not like a major city elements just one of those places like that for for whatever reason A lot of immigrants of of from from afghanistan have gathered. you know It's kinda like michigan. Like loads of arabs in michigan list of somalis in minnesota united. It's like weird and not clear. Exactly why or how it happened. But like it's cool that happened We kind of formed their communities all around. And yeah and then. I came back to australia for a unique when i was eighteen. came back to melbourne so Did you need a couple of more years than building My kind of like artistic practice on a ride early practice. And then i move back to america two years ago You know what. I found interesting. Is i my family. We came here in ninety two so it was my sister and my mom and my youngest sister haven't been born yet so i grew up in melbourne a muslim school. But i always wondered if i had grown up around like other somalis because there weren't that many of us in melbourne at that time in the early nineties i was wondering we had been raised in london or in the us in minnesota. As you said up to the somalis minnesota. I was wondering what my life had been better. And so i ask that question to you because you sort of did touch on that With things a lot easier when you found other afghanistan. I mean it's complicated but i think in some degree in some ways for sure like just having that Legibility you know where it's like. My cousins dislike are everywhere but like at the same time the flip side of that is that you know it means that you know. My uncle's taxi drivers pretty much. Said like suddenly like level of surveillance right. Like if you're out walking around with friends during the mole suddenly like this auntie or that hunting sawyer Travels around like you know the grapevine how it is so so there better be people you get before you even reach your mom's got a few calls you like what the hell iowa and i'm walking around see you i swear to god as you need to make use of the on in let me god i pray that they denver figure that out because if they do they'll be too powerful powerful and its sell us out quick no shade. But i don't want to go there so So as we've said you've moved quite a bit and it sounds like you know there are pros and cons to being around community. Has this made you think differently about what community means. What belonging means other questions that you think about For sure fisher. I feel like so much of the dilemma of of course being third culture kid rise. You're constantly striving or Like trying to find that like alternate place of belonging or that like ritual practice or group of people you can finally breathe easy with but unfortunately like the hajr is about it is the there's no resolution there's ultimate final place final resting bites. You know where where everyone around you will will fully understand those parts of you feel that when i was in australia. I always felt like really weirded out that like people didn't quiet Like all this time.