The family have just officially been made Australian citizens.

"My hair's already gone!" Jiru smiles.

"Oh wow, look at Melkie. Minta, she ran. Small chook. She's busy. She wouldn't stand for one minute in one place.

"This is my country now," he continued, reliving the memories.

"I feel good because I've got every opportunity here."

Three years earlier, Jiru and the two children had arrived in Australia as refugees, knowing no-one but seeking a better life.

Jiru's journey started as a single man when he fled Ethiopia.

Why? "Because everywhere is war. People go this side, people go that side and everywhere is guns, fighting.

"Someone with the same face, the same colour, they killed each other. Everyone had a gun, judging there, on the spot, kill, kill, it doesn't matter.

"This man killed two or three people, no-one there to judge him.

"People died, I saw heaps, a lot. It was a very hard time.

"Everyone was jumping in cars. I don't know where I'm going, I'm not choosing my destination, I'm just running.

"On the Kenya border, people had white clothes, waving them, and it meant we were entering another country.

"After five days, the Kenyan president visited us because thousands of refugees came and at that time, there wasn't any organisation, no United Nations, no UNICEF, nothing.

"Our first camp was on the border of Ethiopia and Kenya and after one month, that area still wasn't safe. There was still war across the border, 300 metres away.

"We moved to another camp, 80km away and we lived in that camp for 18 months but even there, it wasn't safe.

"Every day, there was gunfire and people were slaughtered.

"People demonstrated, saying we don't want this refugee camp, it's not safe for us. People went on hunger strikes because people were dying every day.

"People had yellow fever and malaria. After three days, they were dead.

"At night, people were coming with guns. Who they were, we didn't know.

"After that, the United Nations removed us to the Sudan border. That one was safe and I lived there for 15 years."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Five years into Jiru's stay there, Melkie was born.

"It was an interesting time, that's one way to put it," Melkie said.

"But when you're born in a situation, it doesn't show the rough side of it because that's all you know.

"Dad built his own house. He had a shop, it was a community base.

"I'm understanding more now. Dad didn't let me see that side of life, he sheltered me from it and he always said 'as soon as you get older, I'll tell you what happened.' He tells me bits and pieces now.

"He was my age, going through that kind of stuff, it's just incredible. He could have a Netflix series on himself. The older I get, it amazes me how he got through it."

Once Jiru decided to flee Ethiopia, he was on his own.

"Mum passed away when I was young," he said.

"My Dad was arrested because of politics and I think he passed away in jail.

"I don't know what day he died, or even the month. I don't know where he is, there's no cemetery.

"I felt alone, nothing to do. I felt sad. But after that, I started my life from zero to now."

Father and son watched the English Premier League on satellite TV, many people in the camp did. Arsenal was their team, Arsene Wenger's Invincibles.

"As soon as I finished school, I went out on the street to play football with all my friends," Melkie said.

"Even at a young age, I would rough up the older kids and they'd be like 'we can't handle this kid.'

"English football was one of those luxuries. I remember watching it when I was five, the Invincible era, which was amazing and that's where my love of football really comes from.

"It's hereditary because Dad was the initial lover of Arsenal and I followed him."

"Thierry Henry, OK, I'm interested," Jiru said. "Patrick Vieira, Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell.

"At that time, Arsenal were champions and I loved it. They went 49 games without losing.

"But it was a very hard life in that refugee camp," he continued. "There was darkness.

"I married there and I got two beautiful children, that was my profit, but life was hard."

It got harder when the children's mother died. Melkie was seven at the time.

"We came to Australia through a sponsorship and we were the first Africans in Albury, which was a sight to see," he recalled. "I adapted, not consciously, but I had to. In my head, it was the strangest thing ever.

"I remember having to move to Albury, a bit more remote, and there was barely any support. But it was Dad's decision so I was like 'OK.'"

"It was very hard from the beginning," Jiru agreed. "No-one talked to me and there was a language barrier. I only spoke a little bit of English.

"But my neighbour was a good neighbour and Minta came with me to TAFE when I started a literacy program."

Melkie was enrolled at St Anne's School in North Albury, on the NSW-Victorian border, where Karon Grimmer was on the staff. Her son was the same age as Melkie and the two would go on to become good friends.

"We didn't have a lot of people of colour so he definitely stood out but at the same time, he just fitted in," Grimmer said. "He was very well-liked by lots of kids.

"He was extremely sporty, so everyone wanted him on their team, soccer especially. They joined a club and that was great for making connections in the community.

"It was very difficult for Yhealashet because it was just him and the two children. It's very hard to start a life in a new country, trying to educate yourself, especially with two young children, but he juggled everything. He embraced everything.

"That's the sort of people they are. Even when there have been times of hardship, they don't see themselves as victims. They've embraced everything about Australia.

"I went with them the day they were naturalized down at Hovell Tree and Yhealashet was so proud."

Jiru and the children are all working in the disability sector, helping some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

"There were no other African people here when we arrived but everyone was so welcoming," Jiru said.

"People in Albury-Wodonga are amazing. I've travelled to many places in Australia but Albury-Wodonga is like part of my family. Absolutely. It doesn't matter if I am a different colour, you're like my brother.

"I feel 100 per cent comfort here, I feel good, nothing negative, all positive.

"I had so much support, someone took me to his house, I went to a farm, the next day someone took me shopping, I didn't have time to think anything."

Jiru returned to Ethiopia in 2010 after receiving news from the Red Cross about his brother and sister.

"They told me they'd found both of them," he said. "They said 'there is good news and bad news.' The good news was my sister had (given birth to) my niece and nephew, the bad news, my sister and brother passed away.

"I didn't know my nephew's face but the Red Cross gave me his picture and phone number.

"I start communicating here and told them I wanted to come to Ethiopia.

"I met them but I don't know him. He's just my blood, my sister's son. We cried. It's very hard.

"Until I stood on two feet in Albury, my support group was close to me.

"Everyone here is like family, there's no gap.

"I've found my own house, the children have grown and they're on good paths. I'm proud of them.

"Melkie's finished uni and I pushed him to work this job. Now he's pushed his sister to do the same."

Minta is a dedicated gymnast while Melkie is spear-heading Albury United's attack in the Albury-Wodonga Football Association.

Ask any of the centre-halves he's played against this season and they'll tell you the feisty street footballer moulded by games in the dirt of the refugee camp still lurks within.

"I always wanted to play on a grass field," he said.

"I still have that appreciation and admiration of seeing grass here in Australia. When I came here, it opened my eyes.

"Sometimes I'll go past a park and it'll take me back a little bit, it'll humble me and drive me in the right direction, rather than being stagnant or complacent in life.

"It's something so small but I never realised how much it meant, just playing in that environment.

"I'm not saying playing on a dirt ground held me back but playing on grass gave me that overwhelming feeling and appreciation for where I am, where I used to be and how far I've come."