I was born in Canada, Mum’s Australian, Dad is Russian and I have a twin brother. I grew up and lived in Holland for 5 years.

In February 2009, my twin and I were terrified when we heard about Black Saturday. Imagine what it feels like to hear about a fire that killed all those poor people, the temperatures rising up to nearly 50 degrees, when you’re living in a land all cold and wet and rainy?

It seemed so far away but we were so affected by it. What if our Australian family got injured?

My Mum was so sad because she actually knew some of the people who died and it was near where she grew up in the bush.

I was quite scared to move to Australia after that, but It changed how I thought Australians were. I thought they were speaking slang and eating pork off a BBQ every day. Now I see them as brave, good people who looked after each other in the fire.