Personal Narrative: My Experience With Native Americans

Tensions started setting in. That dreaded long walk from the parking lot to school felt different this time. From now on I would be leaving my hard hat and work boots at home, and walking past the construction site rather than to it. It was my first nerve-racking day as a student at the University of Regina.

Growing up on a reservation many challenges are thrown at you. Everyday people struggle whether it is with substance abuse, financial problems, or even staying in school. I have difficulties myself living on a reservation where poverty is a big issue. One big issue I had to overcome was trying to continue my education when things were not looking so well for me. I dropped out of high school when I was sixteen years old to help raise my younger siblings due certain circumstances. I shortly found myself going down the wrong path in life. I was searching for something that was not there but I knew in my heart, I was searching for myself. Later, I seen an advertisement on the TV. It was of a program called, 'Montana Youth Challenge' it is a program

I am a Native American born and raised in Jamestown, Virginia. It was always just my father and I, my mother passed away when I was an infant, so my father raised me to be an independent woman. My father is the head commander of the tribe. He only allowed me to go to the village near our tents. I never went further than the village, till this one day that I was feeling so curious about what was out there, so I decided to walk beyond the village to see what there is to explore.

As a part of an immigrant family, there is no doubt that, as the oldest, I had to help my parents with English translation. Even though I have been in this role for years, it was not until recently that I realized the significance of my responsibilities.

As a first generation Indian-American, I am no stranger to being a part of a distinct community while observing two unique cultures. Traveling to India exposed me to a dynamic population with rich diversity comprising of numerous languages and differing religions. Though these individuals may have had differing customs from their neighbors, there were similar ambitions to conquer grinding poverty. This poverty can be clearly noticed by seeing citizens sleeping on floors of a railway station, or the lack of air conditioning in searing hot weather. The frailty and mortality of the human condition was starkly visible in India. As a fellow human, I was humbled not only by the lack of privilege and opportunity of many citizens, but also by their

Throughout my life, I have struggled with accepting my cultural identity. My parents were born and raised in India, but I was born here, in the United States, and hence, born an American citizen.

“Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.-Native American proverb” This is a Native American proverb that shows how important storytelling and stories are to the Native Americans and their culture. Storytelling was a big way of teaching their lifestyle to their younger generation. Storytelling is very important to the Native American culture because it helps explain their way of life, faith, and helps teach life lessons to the younger generation.

Studying in a foreign country is an interesting experience of an individual lifetime. One tends to learn a number of things relating to ways of life in a foreign land. Social, political and economic values and aspects are usually different from one region to another. Therefore, through studying abroad one is able to learn different issues about another society such as gender and sexuality issues, social class and race/ethnicity issues. Having come from a developing country studying in the U.S.A has been a great experience personally. This paper will attempt to provide a reflection of my personal experience on studying in the U.S by comparing the history of Angola and the U.S.

Growing up in Ghana, I had heard a lot of things about the U.S. This was a country I had always wanted to visit; my prayer was answered when I got the opportunity to travel there. Arriving in a new environment came with many experiences. Adjusting with food, language and the weather was not easy. With the passage of time, however I have been able to0 adjust and fit it. This write-up therefore is to elaborate on my experiences since coming to U.S.

What is culture? Culture is the idea of what is wrong or right, the concept of what is acceptable within our society. Culture serves us as a guide, taking us to the "right way" and helping us to make sense of things that surrounds us. There are many different cultures around the world. A lot of them are similar in specific ways and others are just completely different, this difference explains why we think that people from different backgrounds are "weird".

Before moving to Saint Paul, Minnesota, two and a half years ago, I lived in Storm Lake, a small rural town located in northwest Iowa. There was no big Hmong population there, only a few family friends. I was very hesitant to share my culture at school because I did not know how to explain the elaborate traditions and its purposes. For example, sacrificing animals to ancestors is an outdated practice and not understood by many people. Traditions like this only exist in historical textbooks. I was scared of being judged and looked on as weird. I did not know the purpose of dressing up in traditional clothing for new years, or what was the purpose of celebrating Hmong new year. I envied other cultures, for they had a history that was widely known and written down in text. I had no appreciation for my culture.

Surviving The Trail of Tears would be hard. I would need to consider the food deprivation, sleep and physical aspects, and the mental state I would go through. All of those things would support that I wouldn't survive on the Trail of Tears.

I am from a country with beautiful landscapes that has turned into a warzone country.

I chose my immigrant participant from a personal perspective, yet not knowing much about him. Last year, my first year teaching, I had a little boy in my class that was Latino, very shy and quite. He struggled in reading and writing and after meeting with his parents and ESOL teacher several times, the decision was made to retain him in first grade. His parents, especially dad was hesitant about the decision, and began to tell small glimpses of how his son was very much like him, shy, and scared to reach out because of the language barrier. There was never much elaborated on, but I could tell that dad had possibly been in a similar situation before. This year, I was lucky enough to have this same child in my first grade class again. After receiving

It is not common for the populace to try to block out guilt of past actions of their people. I remember learning that Native American people had had their land stolen from them, their food sources were over hunted and were actively killed or enslaved. But that was never taught to me in school, I had learned about it from books and my parents. I was aware they were treated poorly in the past but it didn’t occur to me that many of these practices were happening so recently. That western setters and gold miners would kill them for taking cattle, when the tribesmen only took the cattle because their traditional food sources were gone. The Native Americans were massacred and their killers would be celebrated as local heroes. In addition, it was a shock to me how Ishi was treated as a circus show, it is natural to be curious of other peoples but how the public acted and