Personal Narrative : New World Together

This article reveals the stories from five refugees who fled their home countries in hope of a better life. These refugees range from the ages of 26-36 and had to give up their lives back in their home country because of how dangerous it currently is. Sandy Khabbazeh is from Aleppo City, in a house that is on the line between ISIS and the Syrian government. Khabbazeh experienced being shot by a sniper three times, but was lucky to have been missed. She went to America as a student to build her future, but struggles financially as education is expensive. Khabbazeh is working at a job and hopes that in 2016, she would be able to reunite with her family in America. Mustafa Asefi is an Afghan residing in Vancouver. From Kabul, he was sent threats form the Taliban, but was lucky enough to receive an American Visa as a worker for an international company.

This past year, I have been apart of Naperville Central’s brand new Special Spaces club. When my friend approached me and asked me to join, I agreed even though I had no clue what I was involving myself in. In retrospective, I can honestly say that becoming a part of Special Spaces has been one of the most meaningful, fun, and fulfilling experiences I have had in high school.

Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, over 4.6 million Syrians have fled their country in fear for their lives; called the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Most of these people do not have the proper identification so they have to leave illegally. Due to this extremely large number of refugees, Canada decided to accept 25, 000 into the country. Priority was given to families, women at risk, members of sexual minorities, and single men if they identify as a member of a LGBT community. All 25, 000 of these refugees are predicted to arrive by the end of February 2016. To get the Syrians to Canada, they are flown from the country they are living in, to Montreal of Toronto. There they are processed and then transported to communities across the country to begin their new lives as Canadians.

If I was a European thinking about moving to the New World, I would base my decision based off the images and descriptions that were available. One of the images that would deter me from migrating away was a piece of artwork done by Jacques Le Moyne. His picture entails a group of natives who are trying to fight off a fearsome looking alligator. Theodore De Bry describes them plunging a pole into it’s mouth and turning it around so they can stab their stomach. He goes on to say that the natives have to watch out for them day and night because of how frequent they appear. Since I don’t really know how to defend myself against such creatures, I would be afraid to live somewhere where danger is constant. I also would not want to deal with vampire

What Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci coined "The New World" was now overrun by man-eating zombies. It all started in Chile and Argentina; news of a highly infectious pathogen had begun spreading at breakneck speeds. By the time epidemiologists had discovered the cause of this pathogen it had already spread to the Western half of the United States and was making its way east.

The object given to me was the heart of a boy who I was fond of for quite some time. We spent the summer nights frolicking through green pastures of open land ready to take on the world like an explorer ready to find a new adventure; now what I look back on to be no more than a barren field filled with patches of weeds poking their heads above ground, hoping to catch even the smallest array of sunlight. I spent most of my summer nights with this boy, let us call him James.

Abraham Lincoln once said “He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help”. However, often times people critique situations before offering assistance. Throughout recent years, the war in Syria has brought about millions of Syrians seeking refuge. Although there are life-saving advantages that would come if Syrian refugees were to be accepted into the United States, the country has still shown reluctance due to the possible disadvantages.

The sound of the rain landing hard onto the frozen soil was always a nice one. It accompanied me just staring straight into nothingness. It felt great, as if I was just focused on one thing, the “1000 mile stare”. I was on the verge of falling asleep, but at the same time there was no way I was going to. The stare was great, much too addicting. However, there was one thing I hated though. It was the fear that I could get stuck in it. That nothing else would happen in this god forsaken world If I just gazed into 1 thing...for a long period of time. Maybe that wouldn’t be a bad thing? People would stop dying and the world would finally be at peace. I finally leave the 1000 mile stare for a second, just to look in another direction and focus

Only this would happen to me I think to myself as I stumble around this dreadful forest. Today I decided to take a nice peaceful walk in the forest listening to the birds chirping a melody and the sun beaming down on me but my klutz of a self just had to get lost. I have been walking around aimlessly for hours now and the sun has gone down so it has gotten quite chilly and dark out. My phone happens to have no service out here, I can not even call my family to let them know where I am, they must be worried sick. To calm myself down I take a deep refreshing breath the air around me, smelling distinctly of pine and mildew

Walking home from school one day, I looked at the ruins that lay around me: houses, offices, roads, all destroyed because of the war. I wondered why it started. The war had been going strong for three years, and didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Brushing away my thoughts, I noticed an old lighthouse beside the ocean. Jogging towards it, I wondered why I had never seen it before. It looked ransacked, with both doors kicked in and the windows at the top shattered. I began to get a bad feeling about going closer, but shrugged it off and started to look inside.

A common misconception about refugees is that America is allowing the wrong people to relocate here, this, however, is not the case. In her article, “How Syrians

At first I did not know where I was, what he was doing here or why he would want to be here. It took me a few seconds to put it all together, and once I realized I felt terrible. He had walked to the city hall where they were doing counseling for refugees. It had never occurred to me that he was one. I questioned myself asking "Should I have known?!?!?" "Could this really be true?!?!?" I waited outside an hour or two until the session was over, then I walked in as everybody was walking out, hoping that the New Kid would not see me. Inside was a twenty year old man, packing up his papers, and shaking his head slowly, as if going over the events that had just occurred. I took up my courage and talked to him, trying to find out more about the New Kid,

“German, can you share with the class on what your opinion about the topic is?" - sentences like this is what shut me down as I went through an adventure called life. Growing up, I have always been a person who was terrified of public speaking. This fear was a giant brick wall in my life, blocking me from opportunities at school and outside of school. Opportunities such as giving my opinion on a specific topic or meeting new people. This brick wall was soon to be destroyed.

Despite the efforts of parents to keep traditions alive, children are changing, fighting over food, clothing and anything of any value. Many children feel like they are prisoners in their host countries. Many are not allowed to leave their homes due to safety concerns and chores that need to be completed. Twenty-nine percent of Syrian refugees leave their home less than once a week.

From here on, Syria’s civil war as of 2017 has created the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Half the country’s pre-war population which is more than 11 million people have been killed or forced to flee their homes. Families are struggling to survive inside Syria, or make a new home in neighboring countries. Others are risking their lives on the way to Europe, hoping to find acceptance and opportunity. Harsh winters and hot summers make life as a refugee even more difficult. At times, the effects of the conflict can seem overwhelming, however these refugees have no other option but to keep going. It is believed that most of these refugees are now living in Jordan and fleeing across the border into Turkey where they make their way up to Greece.