Origin Country Refugee Poem

By Onam Liduba from Southern Sudan

UniVerse; United Nations of Poetry website: http://www.universeofpoetry.org/index.shtml

The author, Onam Liduba was 9 when he ran from his village that was being attacked in 1987 and started walking towards Ethiopia, as they fled from the war torn south. He lived in a refugee camp until he was able to be relocated to the United States in 2001. He is able to express his painful experience as a child through poetry and strives to educate and help others in need. This poem describes his love for the motherland where he grew up, a place where he called home.

Format

Poet Onam Liduba's work is featured on UniVerse; United Nations of Poetry website that serves to encourage universal dialogue, compassion and peace.

http://www.universeofpoetry.org/sudan.shtml

Complexity

Medium to High

This poem was translated from the author's native language into English and may present some confusion among High School students. The language would need interpretation by the teacher or instructor in order to understand the message and lesson of the poem.

Potential Use

1) Analyze poem and discuss in order to make connection with A Long Walk to Water.

2) In the author's online biography, he states that "...you will understand my feeling if you put your self in my shoe." After reading and a brief discussion, have students write a short poem as if they were a young refugee like Onam Liduba or Salva Dut.

Citation:

Liduba, O. (n.d.). Why oh mother Land [Poem]. Retrieved from http://www.universeofpoetry.org/sudan.shtml

Standards

CCSSH-SS 10.4

10.4 Students analyze patterns of global change in the era of new imperialism in at least two of the following regions or countries: Africa, Southeast Asia, China, India, Latin America and the Philippines.

1. Describe the rise of industrial economies and their link to imperialism and colonialism. (e.g., the role played by national security and strategic advantage; moral issues raised by the search for national hegemony, Social Darwinism, and the missionary impulse; material issues such as land, resources, and technology.

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