Immigration Project Reflection

Julian Pina-Sanz

3/29/09

Immigration Project Reflection

I had an understanding experience with this book. I learned a lot about different people’s life and the book explained it to me in a way that makes your troubles feel insignificant to what is happening in the lives for people in Africa. I had not been given a chance to choose since I was absent and I thought the book was dumb but now that I have read it I say that it is one of the best books I have read. It sucked me in and made me created feelings for the characters.

The other members in my group also showed sentiment for the characters but I believe that anyone would after they read the book. When I read the book I saw it in a small movie in front of me. I imagined it very detailed. The stories in the book were sad but pulled me into them. Their stories looked far worse than people’s lives here. Here they complain about a fire that destroyed their kitchen but in Africa entire people’s homes along with their village and cities are burned down. I couldn’t exactly find what the moral was but the book affected me greatly. I remember staying in at lunch and P.E to read and it was worth it.

I thought blogging was a fine way to do this project, it gave people who still had a little more to read to finish when they got home until 9 o’ clock. I also think it gave more time and space to express feelings about what happened in the pages that you have read instead of Dialectical Journals and their small spaces for writing. There were some technical difficulties with blogging but they could be fixed. I can’t say that we all understood the book in the same way. Everyone has a different understanding of what the book meant to them. I didn’t have any similar understanding of the book with the rest of my group. This book is one of the best stories.

Because of my understanding of the book I chose the type of painting that would let me share what I felt about the book. I believed that the choice of interpretation of the novel would give me that. All the feelings I felt for the book weren’t in the painting. I would not have been able to fit them all on the painting. As soon as the idea of the mirror and the village being pillaged came up in my head I knew that it had a deep meaning.

And when it was complete I looked at it and saw an immediate connection. The moral as I had said before is unclear to me but I can right now only express parts of what I understand of the book. There are some things that I had wanted to add and those were hints to relate to the time the main character had in America like his girlfriends begin murdered and being brutally robbed. I think if I was better at painting it would have turned out better. I only learned how to slowly write a detailed page about my painting.

The interviews were quick and smooth. The answers were answered fine and there wasn’t any nervousness or tension. Since my families are friends with them, it was easy to finish the interviews. I though that the 3 times in 3 different ways was fine. It gave you a chance to establish trust with the interviewee and get more information out of them. Also the 3 different was a very unique way of getting information.

I learned much about immigration from my interviewee, about different life styles and the differences in countries and it makes me wonder “why not help the other countries” which links to my book. I wondered when I read the book the fact of “ why can’t the U.S help the people in Africa.” The calendar I am making for my person is some thing that I believe will explain the person’s life. I thought it was an easy and quick way to explain it. All I had to do was gather different Mexican holidays and important days of the person’s lives. This project was a very good was to learn about immigration.

Lit Circle Final Post #6 / What is the What

Quote 1: I told no one, but I was fairly certain that something would go wrong with this trip. but I could not live in that camp anymore. I had been at Kakuma for almost ten years and would not live out my life there. Any risk, I felt, was acceptable.

Page 518 , Achak Nyibek Arou Deng /Valentino

Response 1: I felt that this part was both sad and happy because it showed how much he wanted to leave although hes going to miss his country. It is good to leave his country during war and death , so it is a happy thought that he is saving himself, but when he sees everyone who has cared for him and are know crying because he's leaving, its sad. I think his choices are well determined. He has become smarter,stronger, and more willed. Its just sad that he has to break hearts to alleviate his own.

Question 1: Have you every felt this way about a place and others? Explain the feelings.

Quote 2: We're men. Now we can stand and decide. this is our first chance to choose our unknown. I'm so proud of everything we've done , my brothers , and if we're fortunate enough to fly and land again in a new place we must continue.
Page 531, Achak Nyibek Arou Deng /Valentino

Response 2: I chose this one because it shows how much hes grown. Before i remember the little kid who had been listening to Deng's story about how he pooped his pants. Or the part where he had been wrestling with William K. then Moses. And now in this part he is comforting another kid named Benjamin. He wants others to feel safe with friends and to feel comforted by the love of others, even if they are people you haven't seen before. When i read this part i remembered the part where he was with the group led by Dut walking through that dark, while lions devoured others, they gave them selves comfort.

Question 2: Have you had the memory of you before and you growing up? Explain how it felt.

Lit Circle Post #5 / What is the What

Quote 1: And yet, with this news, as we drove, I found myself distancing myself from God. I have friends who I decided were not good friends, were people who brought more trouble than happiness, and thus I have found ways to create more distance between us. Now I have the same thoughts about God, my faith, that I had for these friends. God is in my life but i do not depend on him. My God is not a reliable God.
Page 358, Achak Nyibek Arou Deng

Response 1: When people say things like this it annoys me because God was the person who saved Achak throughout his journey. You don't expect to bring the people back from the dead like Achak expected God to bring back Tabitha. It is your own actions that bring your distance or your path the to an end or an extension. God, himself cannot undo what you've decided would happen. He just gives you the many paths, the destinys and the rewards that will come at the end of your journey. I think Achak's ways and thoughts are the kind of thoughts that I see in suicidal people. When I look at people who blame God for many things, I think and will at some points tell them " Don't you realize what he has given you and what you've done to it, you merely thinking that God sabotaged you when YOUR desicions have allied it self with Devil.

Question 1: What do you think when you see people blaming God? Why?


Quote 2: They knew now that the Sudanese in America were capable of murder, of suicide, and so what, they wondered, might Valentino do?
Page 367, Achak Nyibek Arou Deng, knowing that his friends are thinking this.

Response 2: This part shocked me because it was what I have been thinking about for a very long time. I had been thinking " The fact that immigrants come here looking for freedom away from the destruction and barbarity that might be overrunning their countries is absolutely fine, But what if they brought that death and cruelty here. I see more and more gangs, drugs, and shooting. I see their the kindness and friendliness leave the actions they do. I've seen kids who are nice and well behaved become mean and trouble making.

Question 2: Have you seen anything like this or can relate? What or How?

Lit Circle Post #4 / What is the What

Quote 1: I told Commander Beltbuckle that i preferred not to bury infants and thereafter i did not have to bury babies.
Page 268, Achak Nyibek Arou Deng

Response 1: It is very sad to know that they were burying infants and i chose this one because it was a big shock to me and affected me in the sense that, if the infants were just born and were angels given by God. It was sad to read this part. I guess that I'm sort of linked to this because i feel bad when i have to yell at my little sister when she doesn't listen. It feels tearful when you hear stuff like that.

Question 1: Have you ever done something that you regret doing? If so, give an example


Quote 2: "Valentino! It's Ajing! Call CNN and tell them that the war is on again"
He's out of breath. I beg him to slow down.
"A bomb just went off. Or mortar. They just bombed us. Huge explosion. Call CNN and tell them to send a camera. The world needs to know. Bashir is attacking us again. The war has returned! I'll call you back- call CNN!"
It was a false alarm, he says. There was an explosion within the barracks, but it was an accident from within, a mistake, a nothing.
Page 289, Achak Nyibek Arou Deng

Response 2: I think its a good thing and bad thing. The good part is that they are aware of different dangers and are smart in making the decision of calling a friend to call CNN. The bad thing is that it is sad to see them expecting the worse because of all the death in the countries. I see the Africans in the poor conditions that they are in, and I feel like I should do something and before in the book it was good to read that the white people are helping out by freeing them.

Question 2: Why do you think he said the it is back, did all the killing stop?