Novels
My reflection on a story of despair
Sudan, a land that has been blessed with natural resources and geographical location , yet it has been cursed with corruption and colonization producing a tsunami of refugees.
The first time I read Home of the Brave, I came across the term refugee. I was not really familiar with the term at the time. A refugee is a person who has to flee his hometown due to circumstances of war or natural disasters. As I started reading the story of Kek, a small boy from Sudan who had to flee his hometown because of civil war, I instantly felt that throbbing pain in my guts. Should I go on and read this story? What if that had been me? How close were I and my family to being refugees, as we live in a political turbulent region? I hesitated for a few minutes and did not want to read the book, but finally I decided to navigate to the world of despair.
Unlike me, Kek lived in a small village in Sudan where it was a life of simplicity and no financial privileges. However, he grew up content and happy. One sad day, though, Kek’s life had changed once and for all. Civil war struck in his village, murdered bodies covered the grounds like tree leaves in fall season. Blood was everywhere and militias screened the streets looking for innocent civilians just like some hungry hyenas looking to close their jaws on their predators. Kek’s entire family was murdered overnight. He went from being a child in a family of so many people to a stranger and an orphan in this world.
As I read through that paragraph, I felt his tears on the pages and I could hear him sobbing. It is like I had an outside body experience where I saw myself standing next to Kek asking him to be brave.
From the day on, Kek was then on a journey to the unknown as “a refugee”. He had to be put on an airplane and fly to Minnesota, this is where he was randomly placed. Kek went overnight from one continent to another. He had to start adopting a new character that knew how to fit in a new culture, new setting, and even to learn a new language.
Kek embarked on a challenge, which is to find the light in his life again. On his journey to find the light, he met a group of people that help him develop perseverance and stamina. It seemed like there was hope after all. Kek met his guide Dave, a girl in foster care, and an old woman who ran a farm. Through the toughest times, and the verge of quitting, he did not quit , but he kept going. He finally had his happy ever after, and he got reunited with his mother, whom he was earlier told that she was murdered.
Although in Home of the Brave the little boy eventually got his happy ending, I wonder how many happy endings happen to refugees in real life? How many of those victims of wars have made it safely to their new home? How many have died on a lifeboat trying to get to shore and how many of those innocent lives lost their fathers, their mothers, their siblings or even their children before their eyes?
It is not only sad , but it is heartbreaking and painful to learn that a human being can lose everything overnight to the point that they do not have a shelter. What is even more aggravating is that their condition is not of their own making , but it is due to a higher control beyond their power called corruption, politics, human greed etc.
We rise as human beings every year with our inventions and technological explorations, yet we can not help losing so many fellow human beings to war, to poverty or inhuman circumstances. I live in the Middle East, where a great part of my region has generated refugees. Refugees unfortunately not only have to suffer fleeing their hometown , but they have to live the prosecution and the social racism against them. They have to survive the attack of those who do not welcome in their own country.
What other options do those poor creatures have? Did we ever think of that? How much of that evil in the world are we responsible for, and what is our duty to alleviate their misery? Albert Einstein once said “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”
We as civilized human beings, people who were born in good fortune, have a responsibility towards our fellow human beings not only to help end wars, assist in producing fewer refugees but also to understand their helplessness and incapability towards their situation. Let's help make less “Keks” in this world.
By: Angie Saifeldin/Grade 6 (Ms. Liz Sproat Class) 2022
My Reflective Essay
The book, Inside out & Back Again, discusses the struggle of a Vietnamese family forced to flee to the United States, as refugees. The story is being narrated by the main character, Hà. Hà projects on her struggle not only of having to leave her homeland but also of having to live the prosecution of being not accepted in her new homeland.
The story starts with Hà being a part of a family of 6, in Saigon. The father, a Vietnam soldier, had turned missing. He had been captured by the enemy’s troops. The family then had to make a decision of leaving the country or else they were all be doomed. The family gets on a ship full of people to flee Vietnam. It was hardly enough space for everyone. There was even a question of whether they will make it to safety. They all had to squeeze together to be able to get everyone on, otherwise the abandoned person will be just left to die.
The family then went to live in Alabama, America, as they were told that more opportunities lay there. The minute they step foot in their new homeland, they are being mocked, bullied and mistreated. People do not accept them. None raises an eyebrow on the real reason why those people have to start their life all over again or what caused them to flee their former homeland. There was no sympathy, instead utter cruelty and false judgment.
Há starts going to school and the rest of the family starts to look for a job. On a daily basis, Há had to endure bullying because of her skin color, the way she looks and where she comes from. The entire family faces an impossible challenge, they have to learn a new language, a new skill and make enough money to put bread on the table, all at once. The hardships were hitting them one after another, as if life decided to chase them to the core and punish them for something they did not know. To make matters worse, the family get informed that the father had been killed in action. The last straw is broken, their last hope to find their father is gone. It is then inevitable that Há has to grow up without a father. She never had the chance to say goodbye or tell him how much she loved him. Há and her family eventually makes thing happen right for them. They keep on hanging on to hope and in the process they shut the haters out.
As I read through the pages, tears came out rushing. I could not help thinking of all the refugees that have to flee their homeland overnight? There are millions and millions of “Há” who do not make it to their new place of safety. In real life, children drown on lifeboats trying to make it to their new homeland, others gets apprehended or murdered in the process. In today’s world, there are millions and millions of “Há” who do not survive. Similarly, there are others who make it to safety, but they have to leave the trauma of being judged and prosecuted for being victims.
This story illustrates one of the biggest struggles of today’s world, which is being a refugee and a victim of war. It projects the struggle of losing a loved one, leaving everything and everyone behind overnight. The writer of this story takes sadness and put it into a poem on every page. The words speak the pain like a knife pointed to the heart. I can not start to imagine what would become of me if I became a refugee, but I can certainly imagine how much of a difference we can all make if we united efforts to stand together in the face of evil in this world.
As Russia embarks on a new quest to generate millions and millions of refugees in Ukraine, it is our role as educated human beings to voice our opinion and stand in an act of solidarity against tyranny and injustice. Let's not turn a blind eye on the face of evil, and let’s help every “Há” in our life to have her happy ever after. A famous Iranian American activist once said, “it is the obligation of every person born in a safer room to open the door when someone in danger knocks”.
By: Gemma Saifeldin/Grade 6 (Ms. Liz Sproat Class) 2022