The Stories Told artworks are a culmination of each refugee’s life story. Each woman will fill a suitcase with artwork, poetry, fabric, jewellery, photographs and audio of their journey to Australia.

Exhibition organiser Glenda Serpell said the suitcases were a symbol of a refugee’s journey - leaving behind family and possessions to find freedom and safety.

Eh May Paw will display her suitcase story at Dudley House.

She was born in a Thai refugee camp, the eldest of 10 children. She has two younger sisters and seven younger brothers, all born in the refugee camp.

“My parents are from Burma and they came to the camp in Thailand,” she said.

“(They had to leave) their village because soldiers came through and hurt people.

“The men would just take people away and then kill them.

“If they catch the person, they take them to a different place and then kill them.

“They couldn’t stay anymore in the village - it is not good for the family.”

Eh May Paw arrived on Australian shores in March 2010.

Thaw Thi Paw will also display her suitcase portraying the journey she travelled to arrive in Australia.

She lived with her sister and brother in a Burmese village without parents before needing to go to a refugee camp.

“My parents had to live in the jungle, away from home, because of the army,” she said.

“My parents decided that they couldn’t stay in that village anymore. They were afraid because it was not safe.

“They packed up rice and spare clothes. They went to Mae La refugee camp, Thailand.

“At this time I was eight years old.

“I had never been to school in the village. I started going to school in the camp.”

Thaw Thi Paw said she contracted a severe case of malaria then and still suffers from dizziness and a stiff neck.

Her family moved to a farm to find a better life but felt unsafe and so returned to Mae La camp.

Thaw Thi Paw met her husband at Mae La.

“At the time he worked with people outside the camp,” she said.

“There was a village of Thai Karen called Shaw Lu Koti.

“The Democratic Karen Benevolent Army came to Mae La and there was much shooting. “There was gunfire and explosions. My husband, Ko Pa Tu took us to Shaw Lu Koti to be safe.”

Eh May Paw had her first of four sons in Shaw Lu Koti before returning to Mae La camp.

She said she left majority of her family in the camp when she came to Australia.

“Three brothers and one sister died in Burma,” she said.

“My other sister died in the camp. Her five children now live in the USA.

“My father also died in the camp. My mother and our family now we are in Australia we have a new life.

“After the trauma of my mother losing so many children, her husband and loved ones, she got sick.

“She was thinking lots of things and she cannot speak now.”

Eh May Paw said she was happy to be in Australia but it was not without its challenges.

She said despite the difficulties of living in a new place, it was good for her boys.

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Tahira Zahir will display a suitcase full of memories, embroidery, family artifacts and jewellery for the exhibition.

Tahira was born in Quetta, Pakistan. She grew up there with her large family. 

“I have done my graduation in social work,” she said.

“I am from Pakistan but I don’t understand yet which nationality I am because we have no country to be safe and live peacefully.

“My parents escaped from Afghanistan to Pakistan and now we escaped from Pakistan because we are Hazara and Shia.

“This is our big crime.

“Taliban kill us just for the reason of being Hazara.”

Tahira said Hazara people were very peaceful, friendly and hard-working.

“Now we are very happy to come to Australia and feel very safe,” she said.

Tahira married Zahir Azini in Quetta.

“We were very happy to have such a beautiful relationship,” she said.

“Zahir bought for me lots of gold jewellery and beautiful dresses for my wedding. There was about 800 people at the wedding party.

“Now I start a new life, a new story in the place of love, peace and safety and we are very happy with our life.”

She said her “story is not finished.”

“An important thins I want to tell is that our future goal is that we have a big restaurant where me and my husband work together,” she said.

Habibah Sayeedi was born in Afghanistan but was forced to leave because of the Taliban.

“The conditions there were no good because of the Taliban,” she said.

“They hate Hazara Shia.

“All Taliban get an education that all Hazara have to be killed.

“We don’t know why. What is our crime? Yes, we are Hazara Shia. It’s not our fault. We are not bad. Every Hazara is Shia. The Taliban is Suni.

“Not every Suni is an extremist. Some are our friends. Extremists think they have to kill us. We are the Hazara Shia so we have no country.

“Every Shia lives in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan but they have to escape from country to country.”

Habibah has two sisters still in Afghanistan but her parents made it to Australia on a United Nations card.

“When I came to Australia I felt really good because my family was here and they told me it was really good,” she said.

“Our dream is that our children will get a higher education and will become maybe a teacher, a doctor or an engineer.

“I would like to own a house in the future and learn English.”

The exhibition will open on Friday at Dudley House in View Street, Bendigo.