Fall 2015 Edition of Inspired Magazine.pdf

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FEATURE Perception: Changing Foreboding to Serendipitous Yassmine, 18 Graduate of North Central Freshman Ball State Muncie, IN I awoke to the sound of young boys banging their pots and pans with sticks and yelling as they tried to wake up the people in the village. It was about five in the morning and time to eat or better yet drink water because the day ahead was long and Ramadan had just begun and there was no food. This was the first time I had visited Darfur since my father sought political refuge in America. He was an activist who co-authored an anonymous book that exposed the injustice in Sudan and eventually catalyzed the development of the Justice and Equality movement. He was brought to the United States by the United Nations after he lost his position as Secretary General to the Genocide. My parents didn’t know English and struggled to find anyone to connect with. Working three jobs in the months after, we took a bus from Phoenix to Indiana to find a relative. He wanted the best for me, to achieve my dreams, and to have an education. In Indianapolis, I spoke English, ate pizza, and tried my best to fit in at school. At home I spoke Arabic, read the Quran and prepared falafel with my mother. I was raised in such a fashion that it was very easy for me to code-switch. As I grew older I began to find this transition difficult. I would speak in Arabic when frustrated at school and I would forget to wear my Hijab when family members would come over. It is for that reason that I began to carry around an emergency scarf that could be crafted into a Hijab. $36.45 said the cashier. My mother gave me the Food Stamps card to pay for the groceries. A classmate was waiting in the line behind me. I pulled out the card and proceeded to pay. I was embarrassed because I allowed that student to understand my financial state. My mother works 12 hours a day earning minimum wage. My father works as a taxi driver in downtown Indianapolis. Almost half of our income is sent to Africa so that our family members are able to eat; I don’t see my parents often. I had to take care of my younger siblings, cook, and make sure that they did their homework .Sometimes I would miss the bus and my dad would have to take me to school in his taxi. I would tell him to drop me off at the opposite end of the school so that I could avoid being seen. Woe is me. It wasn’t until I went to Darfur that I realized that wasn’t the case. In Sudan people would always ask “What’s the difference between America and Darfur?” I wasn’t honest with them. I told them that the weather was different but not much else because I did not want them to see how little they had. I went to visit my grandmother at a refugee camp. Sitting at her bedside I began to read The Interpreter of Maladies, a story of assimilation. I spotted children outside the tent. I walked outside and they began asking me to talk in English, just so they could hear it. I said a few words and they asked me to keep 16 Inspired /InspiredKidsIndy /inspiredkidmag
FEATURE speaking. I opened my book and began reading aloud. Slowly, the children sat down as they listened to me. Stopping me in my tracks, a child named Ahmed began telling me what he thought about America. He would say that the United States was the closes thing to Heaven. That there was enough water to take a shower three times a day. That people swam in food. That grass was everywhere and money could be found in fountains. He thought I was the richest person he’d ever met. His mother sat by listening in. I was very upset about what he said. Everyone in the refugee camp had the impression that America is the greatest place on Earth and that any goal could be achieved in America. All you had to do was get there. I scuffed at that idea. The American dream is dead, I thought. My family made it to America. We live in poverty. I’m afraid to wear my Hijab because I don’t like it when people yell profanities at my mother for wearing her Hijab. I’m ashamed of my parent’s job. But as I looked around the refugee camp, I knew that those weren’t barriers, they were obstacles. I won’t be defined by my circumstance but by how hard I dedicate myself to my ambitions. That is the American Dream. I lost my inhibition. I became the only black student in the IB Diploma program and I was the only black person in most of my classes. Many IB students looked down on me for not having the best grades and test scores. I didn’t have the same resources they had and nothing fell in my lap but I did my best. “The change to fix Sudan must first begin with the economy” said my older male cousin. “No, the change must first being with the base, otherwise everything else will topple. I was told that I was too outspoken and was constantly scolded for engaging in debates with the men in the village about the future of Sudan. I was told to put on a skirt, bleach my skin and learn to cook. I am not fashionable, I cannot put make up on and I burn myself boiling water. Sadia, a relative of mine, failed the English exam and ran away. The whole village searched for hours before she was found. She arrived with a handmade basket full of vegetables as she said “I cannot go to school anymore. I’m here for life. I might as well start farming.” It was then that I recognized the status of women. I was beyond honored to be nominated for the One Girl at a Time program through the Women Like Us Foundation. I got to speak to extraordinary women and participate in life changing experiences but that wasn’t the best part of the program. When Deb Myers, the director, would say something about how girls view themselves today, many of us looked around at each other as if we were saying “You felt that way too?” We formed a bond and learned that we could rely on each other. Deb could make the most popular girl in the school and the captain of the chess team connect on an extremely deeper level. The mentors in this program were amazing role models. I formed unbreakable bonds and I learned so much about myself as a woman and as a leader. I learned that the only way people could treat me as inferior is if I let them. I built my body to relax in and I’ve developed my intellect to give back and nobody will stop me from doing anything because of my sex. Being born a women is not a doomed foreboding rather a blessed circumstance. Serendipitous. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny (Martin Luther King Junior). I have decided to dedicate my life to helping those not only in Sudan, but wherever my help is needed. I believe it to be my purpose in life because we are all part of one tribe. Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity (Horace Mann) www.readinspiredmag.org Kids Speak 17
Page 1 and 2: Fall Edition 2015 Volume IX NSPIRED
Page 3 and 4: departments features CONTENT Letter
Page 5 and 6: THE WORLD More than Dots in Blue Wa
Page 7 and 8: Give our kids every chance to get b
Page 9 and 10: ART Lizbeth, 16 Grade 10 Broad Ripp
Page 11 and 12: Christopher, 16 Grade 12 Christel H
Page 13 and 14: WRITING Visions of Light: A Christm
Page 15: WRITING of the retreat Lesia Cartel
Page 19 and 20: Musical DNA® Ken Lemons Patented M
Page 21 and 22: Sponsored By: MUSIC to gain motivat
Page 23 and 24: If I Don’t Do It, Who Will? COMMU
Page 25 and 26: COMMUNITY Melanie M. - age 15, inco
Page 27 and 28: Sponsored By: POETRY HE WHO PREVAIL
Page 29 and 30: PHOTO Victoria,17 Pike High School
Page 31 and 32: Advanced EndoCare is a privately ow

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