Empty Hands Summary

Katie Nolan, Francie’s mother, is the main reason that Francie is able to survive her arduous childhood and succeed in life. Food, heat and protection are always available to the Nolan children even if it means that Katie has to work multiple jobs or even sacrifice some of her own needs. Katie gives all she can to provide for her children and Francie truly values her mother’s hard work. Francie appreciates her mother’s thougtful acts, but still, Francie develops

Jeannette and her siblings adapt to self- sufficiency from a young age, from being emotionally and physically neglected by their parents. The children don’t expect anything so they learn to work with what they have and what opportunities come their way. Jeannette saw the suffering of the family and took this leadership for the family guiding her sibling in the correct path.

J.W. first began her nursing career after she graduated from Truman State University with a BSN. She then went back to school at Webster University and graduated with a master’s degree in both health services management and nursing. After working in clinical positions for many years, she decided to return to school one last time to obtain her EED in higher education leadership from Lindenwood University. After her graduation from Truman and Webster, she began working on a medical surgical floor and mostly conducted surgeries on hips and shoulders. She did that for about nine months, but decided to switch since her work was very physically demanding. She stated, “Then I went to a different town and I worked in ICU where I was a head nurse in the step down unit and dialysis unit for a while” (Personal communication, 10/19/2017). She then

Evidently, her life exemplifies the overcoming of poverty and how it really is possible as long as you stick to education and persevere through life.

The nurtures in Neens life weren’t present until middle adulthood, the phycologist and social workers played a major role in helping her begin to live a clean lifestyle and develop a sense of safety; she had never felt safe.

She worked in various hospitals in different position from a bed side nurse to the head nurse. Not content with her work, she continued with her studies and graduated Masters in Education from India,

The fact that Elinor and Anna came to help her with a task she can not complete, but is necessary for her to live, is completely life changing. The child feels companionship and like she is cared for by the villagers. This child is reliant on compassion from the villagers to survive. She may be an orphan but she has the support of others around her.

Rowena received her license to be an LPN in 1975. In 1986, she received her certificate to be a paramedic/EMT. She worked for more than twenty-two years, starting in 1996, as an independent contractor in the health and safety industry teaching CPR/First Aid & AED; initially for the “American Red Cross” for several years; and the majority of her years, she continued to work for “American Heart Association.” In 1998, Rowena became a licensed home daycare provider.

Dawn had four children before the age of 18. Dawn lived with the father of her children, and they struggled to find housing, food and babysitters for the children. She was a child herself but was forced to raise her children and protect them from any harm. Dawn is described as being strong, she was strong enough to finish high school, but she attended one of the worst high schools in the city. At the school she attended, teachers were frequently attacked by students, and the students lived in fear of being attacked by their fellow classmates. Her school was a very freighting place. Dawn is a strong example of how children grow up too fast and do not have a typical childhood in the Chicago housing project. She became a mother at the age of 14 and had to worry about housing, food and finding a babysitter to watch her kids so that she could attend school. It was very unfortunate and Dawn did not have the support of a family. Dawn’s teenage years were not typical of a high school experience. She handled great responsibility and fears when going to school. Although her strength and courage allowed her to complete school she continued to have the worry of carry for her four

Many Children in the world face challenges that most people don’t have to. For example, two of his people face very hard challenges, Abdul, and Kundila. Two people who have it harder in life then us.In these stories, Doris Pilkington, and Katherine Boo amazingly show the challenges these two people face. In Katherine Boo’s story, Abdul has to work for his family to raise money to move to a better neighborhood. In Doris Pilkington’s story, Kundila has to protect his family from the white raiders.

residential school, until one day she was sent. Over the duration of Niska’s attendance at residential school she was forced to learn the wemistikoshiw ways. Viviana Schadenberg states, “She is looked down upon because she chooses to live by the old ways, [...] she realizes that the ways which she grew up are better for her. Niska doesn’t trust the Europeans because she has had too many negative experiences with them in the past” (Schadenberg, “Three Day Road Essay”).

Her name is Catherine, and in 1925, she was born in an era called the hopeful time. Catherine had six siblings all with jobs, and washing job she did was the laundry and cooking. However, Catherine’s curiosity often got the best of her, for she followed her father on horseback into the fields of wheat. When Catherine eventually went to school, she and her six siblings were in a one-room schoolhouse. She had a cheerful childhood, but hard times were upon them, beginning with the Great Depression. Millions of people lost their jobs. The stock market plummeted, and prices of certain materials drastically fell. For example, wheat prices dramatically changed, leaving farmers with less and less money. Sadly, the large group of farmers . For Catherine and her family, life just got harder with a large drought in

Celie is inspired by her sister’s independence, determination and perseverance in Africa among foreign people whom Nettie cares about deeply. Celie saw the impact that a woman could have on others and felt

     Throughout the story there are several aspects of the Protagonist’s character that play a major role in the shaping of her future. During her childhood she

In 1891, at the age of 22, Lillian Wald decided to attend nursing school. She moved to New York and acquired her education at New York Hospital’s Training School