Refugee Camp Narrative

Imagine not having a safe spot. A place where you don't feel protected. A place where you're not frightened. A place where you're not scared of dying if you don't leave immediately. In Refugee by Alan Gratz three characters are refugees in different times, going through the same experience of fleeing the life they knew. The 1930’s: Josef, a Jewish boy living through the Holocaust, must flee Germany on a ship headed to Cuba. 1994: Isabel, a Cuban girl living through riots and protests, flees Cuba on a makeshift boat after the Soviet Union collapsed. 2015: Mahmoud, a Syrian boy living through the Syrian Civil War, must leave Syria with his family after his home is bombed. All three of these realistic characters are experiencing the same journey,

In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting an excerpt from a book and a refugee story. I will talk about both the differences and the similarities of each story.

The trauma that refugees experience is a major determinant in their health. Many refugees have experienced great amounts of trauma, which puts them at risk for more health problems. For instance, Wagner et al., (2013) showed that refugees who reported greater trauma symptoms were more likely to report heart disease, hypertension, and lower levels of self-reported health. In addition to exacerbating the physical health problems, trauma was also associated with the following barriers to healthcare: lack of understanding, cost and access problems, and the need for an interpreter. In addition, Wagner et al. (2013) showed that refugee populations who came to the United States 20-30 years ago still exhibited many trauma symptoms. This means that

‘The Happiest Refugee’ discusses various concepts including the effects of war, the trauma that refugees experience, their desire to contribute to society and our negative attitudes towards them. After the war, South Vietnamese soldiers and their families were captured by the North Vietnamese Communists and held in labour camps. Some of these prisoners were eventually released (after 1976), however, they had no right to education, employment or government supplied food rations. If Ahn had not left this oppressive environment, he would have grown up in extreme poverty and would be a very different person due to the trauma that

No one is prepared for war and the most challenging decisions you will have to make to survive. Although each character in Refugee, by Alan Gratz, is from a different time and place, they each share similar hardships and challenges in their experiences, such as they were all forced from their homes, they all lose a family member, and their problems begin in their own country.

A Refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. Ha’s a 10 year old girl from saigon who is a refugee, she had to flee her home in saigon, before she fled her her she was a very stubborn and sassy. The title of the book is Inside out and back again by Thanhha Lai.

Ahn had not left this oppressive environment, he would have grown up in extreme poverty and would be a very different person due to the trauma that poverty causes. Refugees are here to escape poverty and persecution; because they have experienced severe trauma, they are at a much higher risk of psychiatric illness than the general population. I believe that these statistics can be reduced if our negative attitude towards marginalized groups changes. Because of the media and government induced stereotypes, Australians often show disdain towards refugees. This inhibits their adjustment to Australian society and creates further division among us. 'The Happiest Refugee' is a valuable resource in the fight against racism because it shows that refugees share our values, embrace our culture and are eager to contribute to Australian society, and I strongly support it’s inclusion in the Rochedale State High School English program.

I am Hmong and comes from a family of nine. My parents are refugees from Laos who came to the United States to escape communism after the Vietnam War. I was born in Oroville, California in the year 1994 and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1997. My parents moved here in hope to find a good job to provide for the family as well as a better education for their children. As I got older, I realized that how important it is to help out one another. I am where I’m at because of the support I received from my family and my community. This is the reason why I tried my best to be a part of my community when I was in high school and while I am in college. In high school I took the opportunity to be involved with my school by joining school organizations.

Do you know what Refugees are what they do how they live and how they survive. Refugees are people that have to leave there home all because of war, they have to leave and find new ones far away. Before war happened in Vietnam Ha was different she was sneaky because when she went to get groceries she would by fried dough for herself, and she was mean because when she would hide her brothers sandals when she got mad at them. The title of the book makes you wonder a little by the words inside out and back again, the author Thanhha Lai had a good idea for making this book for a history lesson. Refugees like Ha and her family turn back again when they find better home like Ha she stared understanding more.

Similarily examined in GBTWYCF, the participant’s genuine “refugee experience” allows them to identify social understanding about the fact of other people’s lifestyles and how they withstand the most severe of individual adversities. An extensive structure taken of Raye weeping followed by a remote taken of the moon enhances her concern towards Maisara “I’ve had issues holding child birth through…I do know where she’s arriving from…” examines how by your same circumstances as others, people are able to empathise.

Refugee camps are places around the world where people who were forced out of their go and stay temporarily. The camps are not a nice resort or a place to have fun, they have worn down tents for people to stay and very low sanitation. In the book Other Side of the Sky Farah the main character escapes Afghanistan and later on stays at a refugee camp. In the refugee camps refugees live in tough conditions, Farah and her Mother have a hard time in the camps especially with her mother's problems, which many refugees also face. In the refugee camp Farah says “If I'm going to sink anyway what does it matter whether I think we sink quickly or slowly. You lose your drive (Ahmedi 123).” These camps have poor sanitation, are overly crowded, there are many

“Hello mother, father, this is your Louie talking. This will be the first time in two years that you’ve heard my voice. I am now interned at a Tokyo prisoner of war camp and I’m being treated as well as can be expected under wartime conditions.” As a viewer we can see the look of pure disgust and longing upon Louie’s face. It was evident that he wasn’t eager to read what was prepared for him as it depicted a false perception of what his wartime conditions were truly like. The fact that he had to make it seem like he was well when in fact he was anything but. I am now able to understand that what those in society often herd about their captured soldiers was quite often incorrect. The enemy wanted to portray an image that hid the true conditions and circumstances the American soldiers were subject to. I not only found this film inspiring as it showed the resilience American soldiers had whilst confined in the prisoner of war camps but also found it interesting as it showed the truths of war so vividly in way that could never be achieved through the use of written words. As a result of this film I am able to see how much we owe these men for our freedom, we were never truly able to appreciate the sacrifice made by those men and women until viewing this incredible film. They went through so much to ensure the freedom of many generations to come and if it wasn’t for these men who knows what our lives would be like today.

I experienced many different cultures, ethnicities and traditions when my family lived in Thailand. We lived in a Refugee camp and it was not like an America society. Every month, a volunteer group from a big city would aid every family in the refugee camp with bags of rice depending on how many people are in your family. There were about ten schools in the camp which were public schools and Catholic schools. Schools and houses were built out of bamboo and trees, and the buildings don't last more than a decade. Life was not easy in Thailand. Not every parent had a job and they found other ways to make money to provide for their families. There were many cultures and different ethnicities living in the same area and our neighbors spoke different languages and they were from different ethnic groups. There are many holidays and cultural traditions that we celebrate every year by dancing, playing music, and having big festivals.

Before I moved to America I lived in a Thailand refugee camp called Mae La. Growing up in Mae La camp there was not a lot of diversity since most people who live there were Karen people. All my neighbor were Karen, therefore I was not close to people of different background or people with different ethnicity. I could not open up to them easily since I only speak Karen language. I was more comfortable with the Karen people too since I know mostly Karen people and my school was full of Karen kids. I went to a mission school in Mae la and the school in Mae La refugee camp was not well made like the one in US, it was made of bamboo and there was no floor. Mae La also have a poor education system so many Karen student including myself did not get a full advance education like the one in America. Since I was still a kid when I lived in Mae La camp, I did not know about the struggle of living in refugee camp.

From 1991 over one-sixth of Bhutan’s people flee their country and take a shelter in Nepal, India and other countries around the world. The large populations of Bhutanese refugee are called lhotshamps, an ethnic group, who were forced to leave their country in the early 1990s. Among 105,000 Bhutanese I’m one of them. I was born in a hut made of bamboo, food rations, and dirt roads. We are hostile, unsettled, unsure of who we are and what future held for us. I often think can we ever able to get rid out of the tag called “refugee” would my life ever changed, while ongoing tussled between mind and outside world finally in 2008 United States open a door for us to settled in the United States a “promised land” with full of struggle in 2009 we came here at Grand Forks. As I was growing up in the refugee camp I have seen a countless number of violence, crimes, injuries, and rebuff that words can’t be described. Most importantly death of people from a disease that can be a cure if, we have enough facilities such as, advanced medical training and hospitals. Although during my early childhood I have seen so much of maltreatment and practices, I always thought of having a career in health-related profession because I wanted to invest and improve the lives of individuals so that their children don't have to orphans, forced to work when their parent died, nor they have to beg for food. When I was 10 years old, my friend and I were trying to climb up the mango tree and I step in