31 MAR 2023

31 MAR 2023 · SAMIA (Sudan) The story about my mom In October 2021, I got a phone call from my sister in Sudan to tell me our mom was sick. She had a stroke. I was very scared for her because I hadn't seen her for 5 years. I talked to my manager at work and asked him if it’s ok to take two weeks off to visit my mom. He said ok. I was so happy to hear that. I brought my mom to Egypt so she could see a good doctor. I surprised her. I didn’t tell her I was coming to visit her. She was in the hospital for 3 days. After that she went to physical therapy 3 days a week. Now she is better. Now she is able to walk and talk. My visit helped my mom to get better. Coming to America has changed my life completely because I can work hard to earn good money and support my family. When I have extra money I’ll save it to help people back home.

31 MAR 2023 · PAULINE (DRC) This Story is about my grandfather in my country DRC, Democratic Republic of Congo. Every year, my grandfather would come visit us in the city of Kinshasa from the village of Equator, sometimes by airplane or boat. Our parents made us take a shower every afternoon, before we had dinner. If not, you could not eat dinner. Young people (my brother and I) didn't like to take showers. We preferred to sleep hungry, than to take showers. Our parents forced us to take showers and sometimes hit us. When grandfather came to the village to see us, he said to our parents that it was not necessary to hit them. My grandfather knew how to send us to go take showers. He said if you want to come to listen to my story you need to take showers and eat. In the afternoon, he made sounds like the Tam-tam drum with his mouth (######). It was the sign for us to know it was story time. All of us ran to take showers and have dinner. Afterwards, we stayed together with our grandfather to listen to him. When grandfather returned to the village our parents said, “if you guys refuse to take showers, I will let grandfather know about it.” He was one way our parents got us to take showers and eat well. (Then tell the story in Lingala) Histoire oyo ezali ya koko na ngai ya mobali esalami na mboka (RDC) République Démocratique du Congo. Mbula nioson koko na ngai ya mobali ayaka na capital Kinshasa kotala biso. Ewutaka Mbandaka na equateur na avion to na Masuwa. Pokwa nioson baboti balobaka : avant ko liyia ebongi muana nioson asukola. Ngai na bandeko na ngai tozalaki kolinga kosokola te na pokwa. Soki baboti balobi avant kolia na pokwa ebongi osukola. Kasi ngai na bandeko na ngai tozalaki kolinga te. Malamu kutu to lala nzala ke tosukola. Baboti bazalaki kobeta biso kaka po to sukola pe to liyia. Tango koko ya mobali aye kotala biso, anomi ndenge baboti bazali kobeta biso pona kosukola pe kolia. Koko ya mobali alobi na baboti : botika bango. Ngai na kosunga bino po bayeba kosukola pe kolia na pokwa. Na pokwa koko alobi na biso: oyo alingi apusana pembeni na ngai ayoka histoire na pokwa esengeli kosukola pe aliyia. Soki pokwa okoki abandi kobeta mbunda kasi mbunda ya munoko. Tamtam. Soki biso na pokwa toyoki mbunda wana ebandi wana muana nioson mbangu koluka kosokola pe kolia. Sima toye koyoka histoire biso nioson pene na ye elongo. Soki azongi Mboka (village), baboti balobi na biso oyo akoboya kosokola pe kolia tokoyesisa koko ya mobali soki aye. Bongo nde baboti bakomaki kosala po biso tolia pe to sokola.

31 MAR 2023

31 MAR 2023 · MICHELLE (U.S.) Suna is a community police officer. Suna and I went to the same school, Portland High School. We were in the same class, the same year. We knew each other for 9 years. I went over to her office and asked her to go for a walk. We are not the same age. She is in her 30s and I am in my 40s. She always buys me a birthday gift. We always did stuff together. Then she got a new job so she left me. She works at a different police station now. I love being with Suna and she loves being with me. She was there when I lost my mom . She said she will be there for me and my dad. I thank her for saying that. She knows when I am sad or when I am happy or when I am hurt. She makes me happy. She helps me out with my sadness and she has been there for my family for a long time.

31 MAR 2023 · ISABEL (Angola) When I studied in Catholic high school in Cabinda, Angola, we had a lot of rules. School was expensive and my parents paid for my tuition. I had a male Physics teacher. He was very strict and demanding with us. If we had a class with him it was very stressful. He would get mad if he asked a question and you didn't respond or if you didn't do your homework. If you were a boy he would tell you in the next class you have to shave your hair. A girl would bring the oil to put on the boy's head. For girls who had beautiful styled hair, he told them to return to the next class with messy hair. He took pleasure in humiliating the students. It was too horrible for everyone to laugh at you. He also forced students to walk the entire building so that other students would make fun of you after he said, “take my backpack and bring it to the office.” Parents got mad when they paid a lot of money and saw their children humiliated at school. This teacher never got fired. (Then tell the story again in Portuguese) (Portugues) Quando eu estudava no colégio Catolico em Cabinda, Angola tinha muitas regras. A escola era cara e os meus pais pagavam minha mensalidade. Eu tinha um professor de fisica do sexo masculino. Ele era muito severo e exigente conosco. Se tivéssemos uma aula com ele, era muito estressante. ele ficava bravo fizesse uma pergunta e você não saber responder ou se você não fizesse a tarefa (lição de casa). Se for o menino ele dizia na próxima aula que o aluno tem que raspar o seu cabelo , caso se o aluno não raspe o cabelo esse aluno não voltará a participar nas aulas dele. E ele dizias que há uma menina para trazer o óleo para colocar na cabeça do menino. Para as meninas que tinham cabelos bonitos e penteados, ele disse na próxima aula com cabelo bagunçado. Ele tinha prazer em humilhar os alunos. Era muito horrível vendo todos alunos rindo de você como se você fosse uma palhaça, ele também obrigava os alunos a andarem o prédio todo para que outros alunos zombarem da tua cara, depois ele dizias pega a minha pasta e leve-a para sala dos professores (escritorio). Os pais ficaram muito revoltados com aquela situação, eles pagavam muito dinheiro para formação dos seus filhos e depois verem seus filhos serem humilhados pelo o próprio professor dá aquela forma. E esse professor nunca foi demitido.

31 MAR 2023 · GORDON (Ghana) My wife’s name is Mary. She is a special person in my life. I met her in 2007 and we got married in 2008. Since we married, she has always made me happy. She makes me smile every day. She supports me to make life easier for us. She is very nice, kind and caring. She is hardworking. She takes care of the children. She is very nice to everybody and she treats everyone the same as herself. Mary is curious and kind. That’s what makes her a special person. (Then tell the story again in Twi)

31 MAR 2023 · ERICK (Mexico) My story when I came to Portland Maine In this story I want to talk about my experience when I got to Portland. I've learned a few things since I got here. The first time I went shopping the prices looked very cheap. In Mexico you can buy an onion with $20 pesos. In Portland that same onion can cost you $1 dollar. Seeing a smaller number I thought it was cheaper but when calculating the dollars in pesos I realized that the onions cost the same. That day I bought many things thinking that everything was very cheap, but knowing how much I had spent in pesos I knew that it was not as cheap as I thought. Another thing that surprised me is that if a package arrives at your house from the post office, they can leave it outside your door all day or even all night and nobody will take it. Before knowing that, one day I made a purchase and I was sad to think that my package would no longer be found at my door. I like that the drivers respect traffic rules and pedestrians a lot. The first time I crossed the street all the cars stopped to allow me to cross, that seemed curious and polite to me. In my country we have a funny phrase when crossing the street: The pedestrian thinks the driver should stop and the driver thinks the pedestrian should get out of his way. I like the security here in Portland, I can walk all day and part of the night in the streets without being afraid that something will happen to me, I also find it curious that the houses are not separated by large walls, nobody invades the space of your house, in Mexico the houses have large walls to separate one house from another and to make them safe. For me it has been interesting to learn new things from another country. In conclusion, I like the lifestyle of Portland.

31 MAR 2023 · CATHERINE (DRC) When I was seven years old, while attending a Congo DRC primary school, one of the students had her head shaved. She was seven years old as well. The teacher complimented her telling her how nice it looked. The teacher told her she wanted to look like her. When all the students went home that day, we asked our parents to shave our heads. The next day we all came back to school with our heads shaved. We all looked beautiful. The teacher said “Wow! So many beautiful ladies here in my class.” We all felt very special. It was the best day. It made me laugh and I will always remember it. When the teacher teaches anything, the students think it is perfect. The students believe their teacher more than their parents. (Then tell the story in Lingala) Tangu ngai na zalaka na sept ans precisement na Congo DRC na école primaire, éleve moko ayaki na class ba raze ye suki na lame de rasoire aza laki na sept pe ,profeseur abandi kokumisa ye Que aza kitoko nasuki ndenge ba Kati ye . Alobi alingi bakata ye suki lokola mwana wana . Tango bana class nyoso bayoki bongo , bake na bandaku na bango ba lobi na ba parents na bango bakata bango suki nyoso covo peza . Lobi tango bazongi na class bana nyoso covo class mobimba tozalaki biso nyoso kitoko sikoyo profeseur alobi eeee bana ya basi ya kitoko baza lelo awa na class na ngai ! Biso nyoso to mimoni special ezalaki journe malamu mingi po na biso epesaka ngai koseka soki na kanisi yango . Soki profeseur alobi likambu ezalaka Lokuta te. Ba éleve ba ndimaka makambo nyoso oyo profeseur a tangisaka bango que makambo ba parents balobelaka bango.

31 MAR 2023 · AICHA (Djibouti) A special person in my life was my aunt. My father died when I was 5 years old and my mother had 5 children to take care of. When I was 6 years old, my mother asked my aunt to take care of me. My aunt didn’t have any daughters. She had only boys. She brought me up as my mother. My aunt was a doctor. She went to work 6 days a week. We had two housekeepers. In our house the housekeepers helped to prepare my breakfast and dress me for school. When I was in elementary school, I played with my classmates. I ran faster than everyone. Even the boys couldn’t catch me. I had a good childhood. My aunt was a good person. She raised me like her own daughter.