AYYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA!

Today in class we finished the documentary, God Grew Tired of Us.  It was really good.  I think we should have John Dau speak at our school.  How cool would that be!? Anyways in the documentary John Dau gets reunited with his mother who she has not seen in 17 years.  It was amazing to see how happy she was.  In Africa they have a custom that when celebrating the women make a loud high pitch noise like AYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA! I can't really describe me you would have to hear it, but anyway John Dau's mother fell onto the floor making that noise.  It was so... I don't it was like so nice to see how happy she was but then you kinda got to be like, okay you're sort of embarrassing yourself ( I think John and his sister who he was also reunited with were kind of embarrassed to tell you the truth.)  But all in all it was a very happy story.

"Do you enjoy the freedom here?"

Today in class we went over the homework from this past weekend and talked about the war in Sudan for a while.  We talked about how the lost boys have to walk into 7/11 in groups instead of one big pack and that made me think...are we really free? Then we watched more of the documentary.  All in all a pretty normal class.

P.S. People still can't hold doors for other people correctly.

Vocab. and Sudan's Civil War (SPRINKLES :D)

in migration- movement by humans from one place to another.

out migration- leaving one place and moving to another.

forced migration-coerced movement by a person moved from their home.

net internal migration- births, deaths and migration in a country

movers from abroad- immigrants and emigrants from anywhere in the world.
internally displaced person- a person forced to flee their homes, but stay on their country's border.
    
          The second Sudan civil war started in 1983 between the north and south over religion.  People were forced to flee, going to all different places near the border of their country (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, etc.)  It is still going on today.  http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/sudan.htm

The Lost Boys of Sudan Questions.

1.) The Lost Boys had to run away from their homes because of the civil war in Sudan.

2.)They ran away to Ethiopia, but had to leave because their goverment fell.

3.)The life at refugee camp was hard.  A lot of them starve from lack of food.  It was hard to watch the video because they were so skinny and on the verge of dying.

October 20, 2010

Today in class we got our quizzes back.  I got an 88, pretty good. Mostly everyone voted for it to be a hundred points.  yayy!

Going backwards 10/18/10

Today in class we used google maps to trace our ancestry back to before our families came to America.  My class had very interesting heritages.  It took me a while to learn how to use google maps but eventually I got the hang of it.

My Past

            I always like to hear stories my mother and grandmother tells me about their childhood and how my family got to America.  They always amaze me even though I've heard them so many times.
            First, my mother's side.  My mom was born in, Newark, NJ.  To Ann and Jim Travers, my grandparents.   She had two older brothers.  They grew up Bloomfield, NJ.  My grandma was born in the United States, however most of her family was born in Ireland.  She had four other brothers and sisters, three of which were born in Ireland.  The came to New York on a boat from County Kerry Ireland where they had little food.  They weren't very wealthy so they were in the low deck of the ship.  The children would cry every morning.  One day the captain of the ship came to their door and said
        "Why do your children always cry?"
        "Well, their hungry." she said.  And every morning after that,  the captain brought down food for them so they wouldn't cry anymore.  That was always my favorite story.  My grandfather was born here but his parents were from Ireland.  They were wealthier than my grandmother's family and had a much more comfortable trip.  He met my grandmother when they were thirteen years old.
             Now, my father's side.  My father was born in Hemsteade, NY, to Walter and Elizabeth Wolfarth. He had one brother.  My grandfather, who I called Opa, was born in Stuttgart, Germany.  He came to America in 1950 on a ship.  When he got to America he was drafted into the army.  My Oma was born in Scotland (we're not sure where in Scotland).  She also came here on a ship, but she was just a baby.  She went to school in New York and then met my Opa, who we already talked about.  I don't know much about my father's side.  My Opa and Oma died when I was six and seven years old.  I know, when my Opa still lived in Germany he was in Hitler Youth, and my great grandfather was in World War II, but thats all I really know.