On War:

Most people don’t know about war. We refugees can give some ideas and explain why people are running from their homeland. Some people left their family in their homeland. They have a big family so they have to send some money to their family in the homeland. Immigrants in the U.S. are lucky to get education, money and jobs.

People in the U.S think differently about immigrants coming from war. They think refugees living in war-torn regions don’t have enough food and are dieing because of hunger. How could people live in the country if there is a war? How do you get food if there is a war in the country? The kids need food to eat. People are killing each other so where can kids get the food. It’s better to leave the country and find a place where there’s peace to have a good life.

Autobiographical Writing:

I Lost My Country and My Family

I am a young Somali African boy. My name is Kadar and I left my country because of war, lack of education and because people are killing each other without reason. My family ran away at the beginning of the war in their homeland and came to Dadab, Kenya in eastern Africa as refugees.

Two months after we arrived in Kenya, my mom died because of lack of food and no drink while we walked from Somalia to Kenya. After 3 years, my dad took me to a madarasa where new people can learn only Arabic. They teach English, but it’s not all the time. I graduated in 2001. After I graduated, I went to school at Horsed Primary School at the end of 2001. After 2 years, we got processed to come to the U.S.

In my mind, I always ask myself why our country has no government, no education, and always war. I dream that some day I will go back to my homeland and be a president to get peace and make a government so people can learn something and not fight any more. People say, sometimes dreams come true, this is what I am wishing for in my future.

Present

I was excited when I came to the U.S. I feel excited enjoying a new life. I am excited by how people respect each other. I feel excited by how our neighbors show respect. I am excited by how my teachers welcome me and give me some advice to learn something.

I have made friends who don’t speak the same languages. My friends have all graduated and now I am alone. I miss my friends; now, we only talk on the phone and we can’t see each other. They live so far away that I can’t walk all the way to my friends. I don’t have a ride to see them. I can drive, but I lack a vehicle. I dreamt one day that one of my friends said, “Don’t worry; if we live in this world, we will see each other.”

I speak a little English, which is not enough. I study a lot, and when I need help I ask my teacher about what I didn’t understand. I do my homework on time and stay out of trouble. In Kenya, I wasn’t a good student.

At lunch break in Kenya, we went home and ate lunch for 30 minutes. When we came back, I didn’t go back to school. Instead, I played outside. When the bell rang, I took my bag back. I was acting like someone who comes to school, but during that time I didn’t like math, agriculture, and business education.

Before we moved to Tucson, we were living in Rochester, New York. That place is very cold and has too much snow. When the snow comes, they don’t go to school. We decided that New York was not a refugee place according to my father. Since we are refugees, we didn’t like the cold weather and we were used to living in a place which was hot and had little rain. We moved to a place which is more like Kenya: Tucson.

Future

When I get my higher education degree, I want to go back to my home country to be a president, make rules and help build a country so everyone may live safely. I feel this way because everybody loves his country. America is a country that is a good example of law and order. I want to make Somalia like a U.S. with the buildings, roads, education, and rules so that everybody can live with freedom.

To be a president in Somalia, you have to be an educated person because you want to build a country so people will want to choose you. If you are not of the same tribe, many people won’t vote for you if you are not an educated person. I want to be president because many countries around the world have no war. I don’t know what happened to my homeland. Could I govern my homeland and have people who want to stay?

As the leader, I would like to restore the culture without war. How can we return to our culture? We can restore our culture if we go back to our homeland when there is no war or no fighting.

In this country, we don’t celebrate our traditions because in the U.S our traditions are not recognized. In the U.S., we are always working and if you don’t go to work where can you get the money to pay for the rent and other things. Our people think a different way.

According to a proverb from Somalia: “To be without education is to be without light, and education is the key of the world.” Can our people learn something if there’s war in the country? No.