Two Men Catch Toddler After 40-foot fall

This news article tells about a toddler who was hanging from a window. Two men both ran to the spot where they thought she would land. The men worked together to catch the infant before she hit the ground.

As I was reading this story, I was engaged, I had to keep reading. This story ‘spoke’ to me because it made me feel good. Once I read the title, I couldn’t stop myself from reading the article. While reading the short story, I couldn't help but think about my small sister who is only three. I would be devastated if she fell out a window, but thankful if people had caught her. I know how scared the siblings would have been while trying to hold her inside by her feet. The shock and terror of what would happen next would be running through their minds. The other part of this story that made me feel good is the fact that the people who caught the infant, didn’t even know her. It would have had no affect on the men if they didn’t catch her, yet they stopped what they were doing and ran to the scene. If they had not have bothered running to the house, the infant would not be alive today.

This story inspires me to look out for the abnormal.

This story made me feel happy because this event could have ended tragically but two men were willing to stop the death of the baby.

The Lost Boys of Sudan

Sudan has an interesting yet devastating history. Civil war has broken out many times and unofficial war has also taken place. The first civil war broke out in 1953 and continued until 1972. The second civil war followed 11 years later in 1983 which continued until 2005.

The People of Southern Sudan thought that the Government was favouring the Northern Arabic people. Rebel forces erupted against the Government. The story of the Lost Boys however, relates mostly to the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). This rebel force fought the Government trying to get peace for their people. After taking down one of the Government's convoys, the Arabic Soldiers came chasing after them (The Arabic soldiers were secretly hired by the Sudan Government to fight and to kill people). The Arabic soldiers found themselves at Bahar El Ghazal, where the Dinka Tribe lived.

In the Dinka tribe, the males work out in the field, away from the houses. The females work at home. When the Arabic soldiers invaded the village, the men in the fields heard the gunshots. They ran for their life. The houses in the village were set on fire. Young girls were raped and shot by Arabic soldiers, however, some girls did escape. People were captured. Children were left without parents. After the boys/girls had ran as far as they could, they decided to see who was left in the village. Upon return, they found parents and siblings shot dead, or they could not find them at all. As the 'lost boys' left the village they met up with many other children from their village. Reunited with familiar faces, the Dinka people walked for days to find a new home. During their courageous journey, the children were shot at. Some were attacked by lions and some could not swim so they drowned whilst trying to cross the Gillo River (also known as the Blue nile). The children had no food or drink and the skin on their feet was wearing off. The Dinka youth finally found refuge in a refugee camp in Kenya. They were all each other had. They became 'family'. After the children had done exams to prove they could speak English well enough, some were chosen to migrate to America where they would start a new life (this was organized by refugee camp workers). Among the chosen were Peter and Santino. T hey were so excited, they thought that America would be 'Heaven on Earth'.

Upon arriving in Houston, Texas, Peter and Santino were given a house to live in, and the opportunity of a new life. The boys were left to find their own work and to set up their life on their own. Money was a big issue for them. The boys found that many local charities and local people were very nice, as they donated furniture and other household items to the boys. However, an education was not provided. Peter and Santino found getting well paid jobs difficult as they were not educated and did not have enough money to pay for an education. When the boys finally found jobs, they found that the pay either wasn't very good or that their fellow roommates could not help pay the rent. In African culture, family is very important, they share everything with their family. Peter and Santino were expected to send large amounts of money back to their 'family' at the Refugee camp in Kenya. This added to the money issue. To solve their 'money issues', the boys either didn't send money back, or they found new jobs (some however, borrowed money). When family from Kenya called expecting money, Peter and Santino would just simply not answer the phone. Finding new jobs was hard in Houston so many of the lost boys moved to different areas in America. An example would be Kansas

While most of the local people in Houston were nice, the Africans did suffer from racism. The Americans saw Peter and Santino as scary because of their dark skin. One of the Peter and Santino's friends was hired at a local Wal Mart as a trolley mover. The boss told him that because he was from Africa, he must be used to working in the heat. Therefore he was 'well suited' to the job. This hurt the Africans feelings. When Peter, Santino and their friends faced racism, they couldn't really do much about it. They complained amongst each other and sometimes made jokes, but they knew better than to retaliate or pick fights.

Peter and Santino noticed that everybody in Houston seemed to be busy, this made finding friends hard. Both boys were too old to go to High School, which reduced the chance of making friends. Peter, Santino and their Dinka family eventually managed to make some friends. Some of the boys changed their age and had new birth certificates sent from Africa. This allowed them to enroll in High School. Another area in which the boys made friends, was a church family. They joined church groups where they could make new friends and grow stronger with their lord Jesus Christ.

Peter, Santino and many of the other lost boys found adjusting to America hard. They were trying to decide on whether to stay in America, or return home. After the Boys had adjusted and their culture shock wore off, they managed to settle in well and make a great new life. The lost boys have touched many people with their dramatic life stories and continue to share them with the world.

If you would like to learn/read more, the movie and book are available-search them on google.

Adventuring to Cairns

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, this was going to be a blast!

All the year eight students of Port Moresby International School (POMIS) were seated in the lecture hall, listening to our year coordinator Ms Tavil. Ms Tavil announced that for the first time ever, year eight students were being given the chance to have a school trip. The chosen destination was Cairns, Australia. Ms Tavil told us that the trip would take place after our exams were finished so that we could have a fun and relaxing holiday, after all our hard work.

After the excited buzz and chit-chat finished, Ms Tavil talked to us about the funding for the trip. Our school in Papua New Guinea (PNG) didn’t have the money to fund our trip. As a result we had to do A LOT of fundraising so the trip could go ahead. Many people believed the trip wouldn’t happen because we wouldn’t get enough money or enough students to travel. Our fundraising included many different events. The walkathon was our main fundraising event . Port Moresby is not safe to walk around, so we had to hire security guards and police escorts for this event. The walkathon required traveling students to find people who would sponsor them to go on a three and a half hour walk, in 35-40 degree heat. My best friend Jorjia and I walked around our compound over a period of two weeks getting sponsors. About two days before the walk took place, I came down with tonsillitis. I went to the doctor and she told me that I had to rest for a week and that I wasn’t allowed to participate in the walkathon. At this stage it looked as though I wouldn’t be able to go on the trip because my parents didn’t want to pay the full price for my trip. Their reasoning was that I had already been to Cairns three times and had already been to many of the places that we would visit during the school trip. After many discussions it was decided that I would have to walk around town with Dad at 5’oclock in the morning, four or five times, to walk a similar distance required for the walkathon. This made me happy as I would complete the requirements of the walkathon and keep the money that I had been sponsored.

The traveling year eight students did lots of other fundraising activities as well. We were separated into fundraising groups and held cake stalls three times a week during lunch. We also sold jewellery that we brought up from Australia. Our fundraising also took place weekends and at night. We held a dance in which year seven and eight students from our school and neighbouring international schools could come for a night of fun. We invited our parents and friends for an evening of entertainment and good food. Traveling year eight students were required to serve food and entertain (act/sing/dance/stand up comedy), on the night. On Saturday mornings there were trips to different houses in Port Moresby where students would do community service for the owners of the house. After all the hard work that we put into cleaning gardens, baking cakes and preparing for fundraisers, we finally had the amount of money that we needed. All that was left was to find a sponsor for camp T-shirts. This turned out to be easy!

The time to travel eventually came and people who thought we couldn’t raise the money were shocked! The trip was a week long and we had free time almost every day. We went to some tourist places like the Zoo, Kuranda, Go-Karting and other places. On one of the days we went to Cairns State High School to mix with students from a different country and to see what school is like in Australia. In the afternoons we could walk to the shops if we wanted, or stay at the hotel for a swim. For lots of my classmates it was their first time out of PNG and it was interesting to see how they acted in Australia. The teachers on the trip were constantly telling students that they couldn’t just sit around on the side of the road and in the middle of footpaths, as they do in PNG. This was interesting, as sitting in the middle of the footpath isn’t something we think about doing in Australia. My friends were shocked to see shopping malls (there isn’t much shopping in PNG) and that we could go to the movies! The trip was great fun and I think many people learnt that you can make something happen if you try hard enough!

From Colonization to Exploitation

People colonize other countries to spread their beliefs, religion, power, empire and to gain access to new resources. Every nation has its own culture, therefore when countries are colonized, cultures are shared. When the British colonized Australia they wanted to expand their empire, giving the British Government more power. When a country colonizes or 'takes over' another country, they gain access to everything that is on the land. When the British people colonized Australia, they gained access to all the natural resources that were available in Australia.

King Leopold II became the king of Belgium in 1865. Leopold loved and abused his power. In 1860 Leopold said he believed "that the moment is come for us to extend our territories. I think that we must lose no time, under penalty of seeing the few remaining good positions seized upon by more enterprising nations than our own.” During his reign, Leopold bought large areas of land in Africa, now known as the Congo. Leopold's reasons for colonization was to extend his empire and gain more power.

Often colonization leads to the exploitation of the people who already inhabit the land. When the British colonized Australia, they took advantage of the Aboriginals by; raping the women and forcing them off their land. 'Half Caste' children (half British, half Aboriginal) were taken away from their Aboriginal mothers to a place called Moore River. At Moore River the British Government said they would 'educate the children' so they could be 'absorbed into the general community'. The British encouraged the 'Half Caste' children to believe that the Aboriginal Race was insignificant and worthless. When the Aboriginals were 'Absorbed into the general community', they were employed in low paying, high risk jobs. Employment was of no use to the Aboriginals, as they would have lived happily in their villages, learning their culture, in a healthy way. The British however, gained from the Aboriginals 'low-cost' employment.

Another example where colonization lead to exploitation was when King Leopold II colonized Africa. A cartoon, published by Linley Sambourne in 1906, depicts the Congolese being strangled and crushed by a white snake. The white snake represented King Leopold II. The Congolese were forced into labour. The abuse was particularly bad in the rubber industry and included the enslavement and mutilation of the Congolese. Missionary John Harris of Baringa was so shocked by the treatment of the Congolese that he wrote a letter to Leopold's chief agent in the Congo. The letter said that he had "just returned from a journey inland to the village of Insongo Mboyo. The abject misery and utter abandon is positively indescribable. I was so moved, Your Excellency, by the people's stories that I took the liberty of promising them that in future you will only kill them for crimes they commit." Harris' letter showed how much the people of Congo had been exploited and that Leopold had used the people's work for his own gain.

Aplogies

I think that apologies are important because sometimes people say things and don't realize the effect it actually has on a person. When there has been hurt or mistreatment, it will often harden the heart of people and a simple apology will break that down and open up communication. This can stop fights and rebuild relationships.

The stolen generation refers to Aboriginal people who were taken away from their families by the Australian Government between the years 1869-1969, continuing in some areas of Australia in the 1970s. At that time the Australian Government believed that placing Aboriginal children in the care of non Aboriginal Australians would result in the children being more civilized and give them a better start in life.

Archie Roach was three years old when welfare workers came and took him from his Aboriginal family. The Australian Government welfare workers lied to Roach's family and told them that they were escorting him to a picnic. Roach was also lied to and told that his Aboriginal family had died in a fire. Roach, who is now 45, has shared his experiences. In an attempt to make Roach more like his non Aboriginal guardians, his guardians tried to force his hair straight by combing out the curls and frizz. Roach's third set of guardians treated him as their own child, but he was devastated when he got a letter from his Aboriginal sister, at age 14, telling him the truth about his family. Roach found out that his family hadn't died in a fire. Past Australian Prime Ministers had refused to apologize to the Aboriginal people because they were concerned more Aboriginal people would demand compensation for their mistreatment and suffering and felt that they were not responsible for the decisions of past Australian Governments. "The Government can't even say the word s-o-r-r-y", Roach said. "Most Aborigines I talk to just want a simple statement from the heart. If you hit someone, you don't say, 'I regret what I did.'".

When Kevin Rudd became Australian Prime Minister in 2008, he decided to build a bridge based on respect between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. On the 13th February 2008, Rudd put his plan into Action. Rudd made an apology on behalf of past Australian Governments to the "Stolen Generation". This had a positive impact on the Aboriginal people because it showed that they are respected as Australians and that the colonizers have realised their mistakes and are willing to apologise for the actions of their ancestors.

As an non-indigenous Australian, I am appalled by what happened to the Indigenous Australians, particularly concerning the "Stolen Generation". I believe that most non-indigenous Australians agree that not apologizing to the Aboriginal people makes us look bad and uncaring towards the original inhabitants of our nation. Rudd's apology, on behalf of the Australian Government, shows that non-indigenous Australian people care about the Aboriginal people and consider them as our own people. During Rudd's apology, he called the Aboriginal people "Fellow Australians" showing his belief that the Aboriginal people are the same as other Australian Citizens. Rudd also emphasized that the events of the "Stolen Generation" was wrong using repetition, he kept saying "To the Stolen Generations, we say sorry".

The Australian Government of 1869 thought they were doing the right thing for the nation by taking the Aboriginal children away. They thought the Aboriginal people would become more civilized and would have a better life. The Aboriginal Protection Act of 1869 states "There shall be in and for Victoria a Board to be styled the “Board for the protection of aborigines” that shows an intent to protect the Aboriginal people. Although the Australian Government thought they were doing the right thing, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Inquiry found that Aboriginal children removed from their families were disadvantaged in the following ways:

• They were more likely to come to the attention of the police as they grew into adolescence;

• They were more likely to suffer low self-esteem, depression and mental illness;

• They were more vulnerable to physical, emotional and sexual abuse;

• They had been almost always taught to reject their Aboriginality and Aboriginal culture;

• They were unable to retain links with their land;

• They could not take a role in the cultural and spiritual life of their former communities;

• They were unlikely to be able to establish their right to native title;

When Rudd said sorry, it showed that the thinking of the Australian Government has changed and what had happened to the "Stolen Generation" was wrong. Hopefully now, future generations of Aboriginal people will be taught to practice and love their culture. When this occurs, history will show that the impact of Rudd's apology on indigenous Australians was positive because Aboriginal culture is now acknowledged and respected. "To the Stolen Generations, we say sorry"

If You Want To Make Beautiful Music, You Must Play the Black and the White Notes Together.

-Richard M Nixon
This quote is a metaphor, it relates music to life and the different coloured keys to people. The quote is basically saying that for life to be good, people have to work together no matter what colour they are. I love this quote because I love music. I play the piano and it is true that music sounds better with black and white keys involved. I can also relate to the metaphor, I have lived in countries where the people have different coloured skin to me but they are no different. I believe that people should be treated with respect no matter what their race or religion. People in the world don't think more of people who are racist, they look down on them. If nobody in the world was racist, the world would be a better place.


This image shows a piano made up of many different colours. In some ways this piano represents me. I have lived in many different places each with different cultures. I have made many different friends and had many different experiences. I am a person whose personality is very colourful, reflecting all of my colourful experiences. I have learned a lot from my experiences and each one is marked with a different coloured key. I am unique, just like this piano!