Forced to leave our homes by Khmer Rouge.
We were nomads,
traveling place to place for food.
Family and friends died from starvation and disease.
The rest of us are slaves;
We must obey or die.
My feelings of loneliness and fear are strong.
Most of my family is dead,
The rest is nowhere to be found.
I'm scared and worried!
I'm dying inside!
My dreams of having a huge family
and husband are slim.
My dreams of having a successful job and a
long life feel unreal.
I will never be happy again!
My hopes of freedom and survival seem unrealistic.
I will probably never see my family again.
Help! Help us world!
This can not go on!
Communism is cruel and inhuman!
The Khmer Rouge must be stopped!
Journey of Hope
by Gina Emanuele
I left the only home that I ever knew to find a better life.
What I found instead was something
I never dreamed would be.
The boat was very crowded,
We had traveled many days.
We couldn't wait to get to shore,
To see what I had dreamed about.
But this, I found was not to be.
We couldn't leave the boat.
America had locked her doors to us.
Our hopes drifted out to sea.
How could this lovely lady liberty turn her back on me?
Please America let me stay.
I'll do my part you'll see.
Open up your golden doors
Take a chance on me.
Revolts, famines, droughts, and death,
All happen while just lying on my bed.
I want to get out and go to a new place,
Where everything is perfect and I won't be chased.
To soar free like an eagle,
Will be just great for me,
I want to get out of this place called China!
Oh, where can I go to get the freedom I need,
Could it be America, where gold is its seed?
Freedom, jobs, money, and gold,
All of these you can get in America,
I was told.
I must leave China now, while it's not too late.
Go to America and enter its open gates.
In my beautiful mother land,
I embark on a mission with a new plan,
On the sea for a long time,
Imagining the new land.
In China, I would have to be a farmer,
Feel lost looking for a life that is better.
It is stormy weather,
Mad turbulence, nothing stable,
All I have is these pants, this shirt,
And a pair of shoes.
Hoping I will be happy and prosperous,
Waiting to enter the country,
Stuck in the boundaries
If they return me home,
I know what to expect.
If they let me stay,
I will grow.
I promise to make the best of it.
As all my countrymen sit patiently,
I know we are all scared.
Scared of whatever is our outcome.
So I just wait at this crossroads,
All I can do is hope.
