Have you ever lost your homeland because of racism, discrimination, hate and violence? Do you know how it feels to be a refugee? People, who have not experienced what we have been through, do not know how terrible discrimination, racism, violence and hate can be.

I could not stand to see any more hate and discrimination in my homeland, so we moved to the United States. When I was in Nepal, I saw narrow minded people around me. As I was walking, by accident I struck a woman who carried a jar of water. She turned around, glared at me, and told me, “Where are your eyes to watch stupid!” I told her in a polite way, “I am so sorry. It was an accident.” The women glared at me with her cruel eyes and said, “I know you lower class people, how stupid you are. Move!” She pushed me and threw the jar of water because I had touched that water. At the time, I was shaking. There were many people around me, but no one who supported me. I wondered why and asked myself why there is still segregation and discrimination when we all are the same people living together? No one answered my questioned.
There was no one to support me or answer my questions too when I left my country, D.R.Congo, because of war. That war has created hatred and poverty. The government could not agree on what to do. People started killing each other to get money. People, who were once diligent, were now despondent. I thought I would flourish, but everything was in vain. I couldn’t stay and watch people dying and becoming emaciated so I decided to migrate with my family to a tranquil place in Nairobi, Kenya. After some years, I moved to the United States where people would hopefully be united and full of camaraderie.
I also left my country, Liberia for the U.S because of war. People were being crucified and pregnant women were being killed. Many people lost their hands and legs by rebels in the civil war. There was no hope for the future. Life expectancy was forty years while for many people in the U.S. it is ninety years. My family and I managed to escape. We moved to the Ivory Coast where we managed to survive in a difficult environment of discrimination. We couldn’t succeed in that place however, and finally, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) brought us to the U.S. to have a better life in peace.
From these experiences that we have shared, we hope to make clear that discrimination, racism and segregation should end because they create poverty and war. Most of us lost relatives, property and dreams. We ask you to treat people with respect, realizing that discrimination destroys communities. Let’s build peace. Let’s build love.

I was so excited to come to the United States. Given the name United States, I thought everyone would be united like one family. When I first started school, I was sitting in my ESL English class and the teacher told me to introduce myself to the class. As soon as I opened my mouth to talk, nearly the entire class started laughing because of the way I was speaking. It felt like my words were turning up and down. I put my head down. I was ashamed to look in anyone’s face. The next day, when I came to school, students were pointing at me and saying, “You can’t speak English.” I felt so hurt and humiliated.
When I sit next to people, they move away from that table or ask me; “Do you have houses in your country? Do you eat food, wear clothes, and have big cities? How do the cities look in your country?”   “Why are you guys asking me these questions?” I asked. “Oh, well, we thought people from your country are all poor and they sleep in forests.”
My heart told me to drop out of school, but I thought about my future and where I came from.  “If I drop out of school, it is not going to change people’s mind and the way they think about me.” I see many people judging each other, making fun of each other’s culture, religion, traditions, and accents. They are also judging people by their appearance before getting to know them; they make fun of them. They call people stupid, horrible, ugly. They do not know who they are, looking at people as if they are not human beings. My family told me, “If you dropout of school, what are you going to get? Nothing.” I sat and thought about it and said, “I will continue school and study more and more to be better than they are.”
Discriminating against each other does not build our society. It can only tear us apart and lead to isolation. Poverty and war are all the results of discrimination. Can you imagine how many people left their countries looking for peace to escape discrimination? We should love people regardless of their culture, ethnicity and language. We can learn about other people’s cultures and how people live, and help new students feel at home at Catalina. That will be the only way to build our school and society.

It is very difficult for me, as for other students, to have four ESL class because we don’t have enough time to study other essential subjects which are required for graduation. Sometimes, I feel that the government is trying to put obstacles in our life by making this four hours policy. Due to this policy, we don’t get enough time to study the subject of our choice. For example, I aspire to be a doctor, but due to this policy, I don’t have enough time to study the subjects which I need to study to become a doctor. This ESL policy has become a hindrance in my life because it is blocking my way towards my goals.

It’s not only us who doesn’t like this process. In surveying our peers, we found that all the ELD students dislike it. It is an obstacle in our learning process. I am against these four hours of English. I don’t like it because my teachers teach the same things. I don’t feel I am learning anything. Four hours may be good for those who don’t know any English, but those who are at an intermediate level should be required to take two hours. We need a change.

We know what will help us to move forward. We need to change four hours of English to two hours for those who are at an intermediate level. Our school needs effective books which are challenging for each level so as to bring improvement to our learning process. When students pass one part of the AZELLA test, they should not have to repeat that section of the test again. We need to have sufficient time to learn every subject. Thousands of students are suffering as a result of this policy. Arizona state legislature should change the four hours policy immediately. We will not be silent; we will fight to make the difference.
By: Laxmi Dahal, Amina Abdulkadir, Khanifa Falilova, Ivonne Franco, Zeljka Kilpic, Mayra Mendivil, Hari Nepal, and Egide Nduwimana.

In Iraq, my friends and I called the new students in my school “ugly, little child,” and we made them cry. We thought what we were doing was funny. I didn’t know how they felt, but soon I would.
One day my father rushed home and nervously said, “Someone is trying to kill me and we have to leave and go to Egypt.” When I got to Egypt, the students in my new school said, “Go back to your country. Don’t stay here. We don’t like Iraqi people.” That hurt me. It made me remember how I had judged the new students when I was in Iraq.

And this happened to me too, just like my friend from Iraq. I judged my mates when I was in my home country, El Salvador. But when I got to my new school, there was a group of girls that looked at me and laughed. I didn’t know why. I looked at my body and I didn’t have anything wrong, but they kept laughing. I felt fragile. It was so embarrassing to me that I felt like crying. I wanted to ask them what was so funny, but I couldn’t because I felt a lump in my throat, and also because every time I got close to them, they started to say bad things about me. “Look at that girl. She looks so stupid.” When I heard that, I felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach. After that, I didn’t want to go to school again, but my grandma insisted I go.

When I hear stories about how my peers were treating others and how they were treated, it reminds me that every awful thing that people do can come back to them. Let’s remember that we do not know who will help us in the future. It is advantageous to be united because it helps people to be open minded, work together as brothers and sisters, and to do things better. We all deserve to be respected. But in order to make it happen, we need to change the way we speak to each other. The more we stand up for each other, the stronger we will be to end discrimination. Let’s stop segregation and hate. Let’s stop the war and bring the world together.

[Spanish]
En Irak, mis amigas y yo llamábamos a los nuevos estudiantes en mi escuela “feos, niños pequeños” y los hacíamos llorar. Pensábamos que lo que estábamos haciendo era divertido. Yo no sabía como se sentían. Pero pronto lo entendería.
Un día, mi padre corrió a casa y nerviosamente dijo: “Alguien está tratando de matarme, tenemos que salir de aquí e irnos a Egipto.” Cuando llegué a Egipto, los estudiantes en mi nueva escuela me dijeron: “Vuelve a tu país, no te queremos aquí, no nos gusta el pueblo Iraquí.” Eso me dolió. Me hizo recordar como había juzgado a los nuevos estudiantes cuando yo estaba en Irak.

Esto me pasó a mí también, al igual que a mi amiga de Irak. Juzgué a mis compañeros cuando estaba en mi país de origen, El Salvador. Pero cuando llegué a mi nueva escuela, había un grupo de chicas que me miraban y se reían. Yo no sabía por qué. Revisé mi cuerpo y todo estaba bien. Sin embargo, ellas seguían riendose. Me sentía frágil. Fue tan vergonzoso para mí que sentí ganas de llorar. Quería preguntarles qué era tan gracioso, pero no podía porque tenía un nudo en la garganta, y también porque cada vez que me acercaba a ellas, empezaban a decir cosas muy desagradables de mi. “ Mira a esa chica, se ve tan estúpida.” Cuando escuché eso, sentí como si alguien me hubiese golpeado en el estómago. Después de eso, yo no quería regresar a la escuela pero mi abuela insistió.

Cuando escucho historias acerca de cómo mis compañeros estaban tratando a los demás y cómo fueron tratados, me recuerda que al fin la gente paga por todo lo horrible que hacen en la vida. Recordemos que no sabemos quien nos ayudará en el futuro. Es ventajoso estar unidos, ya que ayuda a las personas a tener una mente abierta, trabajar como hermanos, y hacer las cosas mejor. Todos merecemos ser respetados. Pero para que ésto ocurra, tenemos que cambíar nuestra forma de hablar entre sí. Cuanto más nos respaldemos el uno al otro, más fuerte estaremos para acabar con la discriminación. Dejemos la segregación y el odio. Paremos la guerra y unamos el mundo.

[Arabic]
جرح آلاخرين يؤلمني
عندما كنت في العراق في المدرسة الابتدائية كنا انا و اصدقائي نطلق على الغير كلمات لنغيضهم مثل طفل صغير وغيرها لنجعلهم يبكون. كنا نظن ما نقوم به كان مضحكا لم نكن نعلم كيف كان شعورهم .و في يوم من الايام اتى والدي مسرعا الى المنزل وبعصبية قال هناك اشخاص حاولون قتلي علينا المغادرة و الذهاب الى مصر. سافرنا الى مصر. كانت معاملت الطلبة لي في المدرسة الجديدة سيئة جدا كانوا يقولون “عودو الى بلادكم نحن لا نحب الشعب العراقي ” كلامهم المني كثيرا وجعلني اتذكر كيف كان حكمي على الطلاب قبل معرفتهم.

هذا ما حدث لي ايضا, تماما مثل صديقتي من العراق كنت اغيض زملائي عندما كنت في بلدي السالفادور.و لكن عندما غيرت مدرستي وذهبت الى مدرسة جديدة كان هناك مجموعة من الفتيات ينضرون الي ويضحكن لم اكن اعرف لماذا نظرت الى جسدي لكن لم يكن هناك اي شيء خاطئ , ولكنهم ظلوا يضحكون ويضحكون كان ذلك مجرحا شعر وكاني سوف ابكي. كنت اريد  ان اسالهم ما ذلك الشيء المضحك , ولكن لم استطع لانني شعرت بغصة في حلقي. تركتهم لكنهم بداوا يقولون اشياء سيئة عني مثل انظرو الى هذه الفتاه انها تبدو غبية جدا.و عندما سمعت ذلك شعرت كما لو احدهم قد ضربني في بطني. بعد ذلك لم اكن اريد الذهاب الى المدرسة مرة اخرى ولكن جدتي اصرت علي بالذهاب.
الخاتمة :
عندما اسمع قصصا عن كيفية معاملة الاخرين, وكيف كانوا يعاملون, يذكرني بكل شيء فظيع يعمله الشخص يمكن ان يعود اليه. دعونا نتذكر اننا لا نعرف من سوف يساعدنا في المستقبل فمن المفيد ان نتحدث الان فقد يساعدنا على ان نكون منفتحين. و نعمل معا كاخوة و اخوات نحو الافضل. نحن جميعا نستحق الاحترام. لكن من اجل تحقيق ذلك نحتاج الى تغيير الطريقة التي نتحدث بها مع بعضنا البعض. اذا وقفنا بجانب بعضنا البعض سنكون اقوى لوضع حداً للتميز. دعونا نتوقف عن التفرقة و الكراهية . دعونا نوقف الحروب و نجمع العالم معا.

[Swahili]
Katika nchi ya Iraq , mimi na marafiki zangu tuliitwa wanafunzo wapya “watoto wabaya” Natuliwalilisha. Tulidhani tulikuwa nafanya vizuri. Sikujua jinsi gani wamejisikia. Lakini badae nitajuta. Siku moja baba yangu alikuja nyumbani akikimbia yumbani na ayibu akasema, “Mtu mmoja anajaribu kuniua na tutaondoka na kwenda Misri.” Nilipofika Misri wanafuzi katika shule yangu mpay wa liniambiya , rudi kwenye nchi yako”. Usi kaa hapa “Hatupendi watu wa Iraq”. Hayo yaliniumidha sana . Yalinikumbusha jinsi nilikuwa na hukumu wa nafunzi wa pya wakati ni kuwa Misri.

Na hii ilitokea kwngu pia, kama rafiki yangu kutoka Misri. Nili hukumu wanafunzi wenzangu nilipokuwa , El Salvador. Lakini wakati nili hamishwa kweye shule mpay , kulikuwa na kundi la wasichana walinitazama na waka cheka.ilikuwa aibu kwasababu nilisikia kama nilie. Nilitaka kuwauliza nini ilikuwa na washekesha , lakini nilishindwa kwa sababu nilihisi donge kwenye koo langu, na pia kwa sababu kila wakati nili wakaribiya walianza kusema mambo mabaya juu yangu. “ Angalia huyo msichana. Nimujinga”.wakati nili sikiya hivio tumboni. Baada ya hapo sikutaka kwenda shuleni tena lakini nilisisitizawa na bibi wangu kwa hiyo nika kwenda.

Wakati nasikia hadithi kuhusu jinsi wenzangu walikuwa na jinsi ya kutibuwa na webgine walikuwa inanikumbusha kutibiwa ni kwamba kila jambo kubwa ambayo tunafanya inaweza kurejea kwao. Hebu kumbuka kwamba hatujui nani ana weza kukusaidiya siku zijazo. Nivizuri kuwa na umoja kwa sababu inasaidia watu kuwa wazi kwakuongeya, kutumika pamoja kama ndugu , na kufanya mambo vizuri zaidi. Sisi woto tunastahili kuheshimiwa. Lakini ili iyi itokea tunahitaji kubadilisha jinsi tunavyo ongeya na kila mmoja. Kama tuna saidiyana ita kuwavyepesi kukomesha ubaguzi. Tuashe ubaguzi na chuki. Tuache ugonvi na tulete umoja katika inchi.

When my family and I moved to Tucson,
Our thought that “Everything will be better here” began to dissolve.
We didn’t know how to speak English.
Because of that issue,
I lost parts of myself during those first months.
I lost my freedom, opinions, happiness, and self-confidence.
Despite losing all the hope we had, we decided to achieve.
Saving some dollars each week, we finally rented a house.
Little by little, we started to have a better life, a better home, a better car.
We achieved everything we wanted without help
From the government or any other organization,
But we also suffered doing that.

And now, even though I have a good life,
There is something I feel scared about.
I want to study, to have a career.
But I am not sure if I can go to college because of money
And even if there are many scholarships,
I think my legal status is an obstacle.

In Mexico, my family had to pay tuition and it was expensive.
My grandparents didn’t have an education.
The only thing they did was work and help in the house.
My parents said that going to college is impossible for me
And that it is a dream that cannot come true.
I think about what my future will be like if
I do not get enough education.

We always hear from adults that we should get an education.
Those adults forget that in order to accomplish this,
Money and long hours of suffering are needed.
There is not enough help for undocumented immigrant students
Our hope is dissolving.

We need your support in order to
Obtain a better life, a better future.
That way we can leave behind the shadow we live in.