By Angel – Grade 5
One day after school Nola and her sister Donia were walking home and as they got in the door they found their mom was crying. She was holding two gas masks and two small suitcases in each of her hands. She explained that the girls would have to leave, because of the war. So in 1940, at the age of 11, Nola and her older sister Donia were two of the many thousands of children evacuated from London during the Second World War. The girls were moved by train to the small countryside town of Chilham.
At that time, Nola’s father used to work near Chilham during the week and went home on the weekends. He would often come and see Nola and her sister for about an hour. He could tell that the lady his daughters were staying with was unkind, and he could tell they were not being treated nicely. Nola’s father told her mom all about it when he got home, because he was so bothered about how his daughters were being treated.
One morning Nola’s mom pulled up in a taxi outside of the house that Nola and Donia were staying in. She told the girls to pack their bags and get into the taxi. Next, she went inside the house and told the lady off, saying that nobody was going to treat her children badly! Nola’s mom then joined the girls in the taxi, and the three of them went to the railway station to head back to London.
On the Saturday morning of the following weekend, Nola’s father came home later in the day. The girls were hiding behind the kitchen door and Nola’s mom said to her father, “Have I got a surprise for you!”. Of course, he was overjoyed when his daughters jumped out from behind the door – and Nola was so happy that they were all back together as a family again.
