Refugee by Bobby Pearl
Bronze,
"You know, it is very hard to leave everything behind - my parents, my
house, everything! But I must save my children, and myself. The Cossacks,
they were going to come back and kill me! I wanted a safe place to raise my
children. America. There was safety in America. There was a way to make a
living in America. There were doctors in America. I wouldn't have to watch
my children die, like my poor mother did. And you know everyone who has come
here from somewhere else, that is why they come.
Who would want to leave their country, their parents, everything they know,
to come to a strange place, with a strange language if they could be safe in
their own country? It is not easy to be a refugee. I knew I would have to
work hard. Work? I was not afraid of work. I was afraid my children would
die. That is why, when I see someone different, a different look, a
different religion, a different way to do things - it doesn't matter. I know
what they go through. I know they fear for their children! And I have to
share. It could be a little soup, a place to sleep, a gentle word. I know
what it means to be a refugee. It happened to me."