“Whenever the power that is put in any hands for the government of the people, and the protection of our properties, is applied to other ends, and made use of to impoverish, harass or subdue them to the arbitrary and irregular commands of those that have it; there it presently becomes tyranny, whether those that thus use it are one or many”…
As usual, I went to my class in technological training, however, at the end of the day, I returned to my little, beige home. My parents had ordered me a special meal, and I sat down at dinnertime to my final birthday feast. Not knowing what else to do, after helping clean up, I kissed them both goodnight and headed off to my room to watch the clock. It was not until what I thought were my last hours of life, that time slowed down; seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours and hours felt like years on end. It was impossible for me to fall asleep that evening, but as the clock struck twelve, I laid motionless in bed, expecting to succumb to my final slumber. It was not until I opened my eyes before dawn the next morning, that I realized that something had gone terribly wrong. At first delighted to still be alive, I soon became terrified over the ramifications of my survival. If discovered alive even by my parents, I would be hunted down. I would have inadvertently betrayed my parents wishes, and become an embarrassment to my government. A future was now possible for me, but my circumstances were dire. I needed a…
My political viewpoint has changed dramatically since I was first introduced to politics. I come from a democratic family, where it is strongly believed that it is the government’s responsibility to care for all people and that the government knows what is best for all people. Every voting season, my parents vote for a democratic president and explain to me the reasoning behind their decision. It was not until I was in the tenth grade that I realized that I did not hold the same political beliefs as my parents. After taking several political quizzes and extensively researching the bevy of political parties, I now know that I am an independent. What is an independent? An independent is an individual politician not affiliated to any political…
This summer, I was blessed with an amazing experience. I had the opportunity to travel to Haiti on a mission trip. Of course, I was slightly nervous about traveling to a third world country, where I did not know the language, and the only people I would know would be the people from the church that I was traveling with. However, I knew this would be a life changing experience, so I took the leap! I am so grateful I did because every second was worth it! Our mission was to work with orphans, help homeschool English speaking children, and meet with the women’s group of Grand Savann Christian Church.…
I would like to say I know Spanish, after four years of studying in high school and multiple trips to South and Central America, yet it seems every time I leave the States, I find myself in a frantic struggle to process the words I know and figure out the meanings of the ones I do not. Sometimes this simply means missing out on a few insignificant details, other times it can seriously complicate life.…
Throughout my life, I have faced a number of crucibles but one, in particular, is more prominent than the rest. About five years ago, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, a traumatic experience that affected my entire family. Each member of my immediate family chose to deal with the news in different ways, however, I am the only one that elected to live in denial. Sadly, the only way I knew how to cope with such devastating news was to continue living my life as if nothing was happening. Denial is simply unsustainable as you cannot escape the memories that the crucible has formed. Nevertheless, years after my mom was originally diagnosed I began to appreciate the experience for what it was rather than shy away from it; developing hardiness.…
In 1994, 800,000 Rwandan people were killed in just 100 days. This makes the Rwandan genocide one of the worst genocides in history. The Rwandan people, which consist of the Twa, the Tutsi and the Hutu, all speak the same language and had been living together with only minor conflict between the groups until 1959 (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). In 1959, tensions flared when the Hutu people attacked the Tutsi in retaliation for the Tutsi supposedly killing a Hutu leader (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). Over the next thirty-five years, the Hutu abolished the Tutsi monarchy and rose to power (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”).…
My mother, sister, and I were driving down Highway 124 on a hot July day when my mom screamed and slammed on the breaks. Fear rushed through our bodies. Outside the car window, a short young African American man was launched into the air. As he came down, a loud boom sounded as his body helplessly rolled off the hood of the faint green Toyota Corolla in front of us. The man lay motionless in the road while we waited for what seemed like hours for the driver to exit the car. His red shirt and gym shorts were ripped. The driver of the opposing car threw the vehicle in reverse in a spasmodic action in an attempt to end the man’s life. The injured man made an effort to crawl onto the Wendy’s sidewalk, forcing his body up on the curb to evade the car. The driver drove up onto the curb and blew its tire, just barely missing the wounded man. Realizing the driver would stop at nothing, my mother drove her white suburban in front of the car, blocking the violent perpetrator from doing any further damage.…
I can’t seem to wrap my head around how drastically things can change in a short amount of time. It seemed as if I was in El Salvador a few months ago, when in reality it’s been two years. I can still remember every single detail of my trip. From getting coconut water when first arriving to saying goodbye to family before heading to the airport. All I can picture is the beautiful green fields and the little corner shops. I can still hear the sound of kids playing in the streets and the ringing bells of ice cream carts. The image I have of El Salvador is completely different to what it is like now.…
When I came to Australia I had to leave behind my mother and two brothers, they are still in the refugee camp in Chad, neighbouring Sudan, where I spent 14 months before my papers were finalized to come to Australia. My family and I had been forced into the refugee camp in February 2004 when my father was killed by pro-government Arab militia, called the Janjaweed, who were carrying out massacres against black Muslims in my home of Darfur in western Sudan. They called these killings “ethnic cleansings”. We, at least, were lucky enough to escape to a refugee camp in bordering Chad. Conditions in the camps were terrible. Far from being safe in the camps, I watched as people around me died of fevers, wound infection, starvation and malaria. There…
My family and I hear banging and yelling at our door as we know who are visitors are, the Nazi’s. We are violently being pushed around as the soldiers yell into our ears making me feel almost deaf. I’m pushed away from my family as I see their faces of fear. I can see children crying and begging to soldiers for their parents as parents yelled and screamed back. We are taken to the camps that will be our new home for now. I finally get to meet up with my mother again as she puts her hands on my face. I hug my mother as we then are taken to get our new looks. My mother and I are taken to get our new clothing. Then they shove us to get our hair shaved off. A buzzer turns on and soon we are shaved. It’s so hard for me to look at my mother cry…
I have a lot of relative who were once part of a gang and I am often caution when I’m around them when I was teen. One of them is my uncle who had told me a few years back that he was onces part of a gang a very long time ago during this early 20’s. Back then the Menace of Destruction or mostly known as the MOD gangs society was extremely active within the criminal society such as obtaining illegal drugs, weapons, and involvement in violent gang wars against rival groups. He did lot of bad stuff such as stealing, beating up people, and using illegal drugs. He told a story of how he and others members of MOD would drug people they don't like, beat them and then throw their body on the street.…
Ben and I were on our way back to the forest, right after we finished collecting more food for the camp. On our way back me and Ben got to talk about our experiences and thoughts about the war. I think, ever since i’ve been a partisan i have started to fall in love with Ben. Ben was always breathtaking with his blue eyes and his blonde hair, it suited him. Being not that pretty, i knew he would never fall for a girl like me, with green eyes and brown hair, but even just spending time with him made my heart melt. We talked about how we thought the war would end, and if we were scared or not, or if we thought we would live till the end of the war. We noticed how beautiful the leaves are when the summer sun…
It was the year 1967 and I was about to experience the fateful event that would change my life forever and put me on the path of intense interest in consciousness, self-exploration and my spiritual quest. This was the year that I really began contemplating the cosmic significance of my life and it became clear to me very quickly that it wasn’t to resist authority by sitting on my ass eating ice cream. I had to get up, pack my lunch and take the long journey from the East Bay over to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to celebrate…well, something. What I did know was that this “something” would be important.…
My name is Lucy Dibawa and I am a former refugee from the Democratic Republic of…