Conclusion

In conclusion, I really enjoy being in this class, it helped me to understand a lot about my history and reflect on how hard and hurtful the past generations of my history had to go through. Every unit of this class related a lot of what my family history is about, which made me appreciate my family even more. The units that I enjoy were the last 3 units, which was Arrival, Arrested Movement and Return/Reflection unit. I have learned a lot from those units and the readings and video clips were very interesting as well. I really liked the “Road to Guantanamo” clip because I never really knew about that event until now. I learned so much from that clip. I also enjoy the movie “Human Cargo”, that movie was so interesting to me that I rented the movie. It allowed me to reflect on how life can be tough and how most people have to strive for protection.

It inspired me to appreciate what I have, and strive for the better opportunities for my family’s history. This class is a very educated class that helps you to realize a lot, that my knowledge that I have received from this course; I can share it with the rest of the world and others.

Return to Your Birth Place

This is a picture of the house that my mother and father built when they lived in Guyana. It was so hurtful to look at because when they went back after 20 years, most of the houses looked like this:

But theirs didn’t because the people that lived in it now, didn’t take care of it. Sometimes its hard to go back and see what life is like now and sometimes its just the same. So the reflection of this, makes people to realize that you should appreciate everything that you have.

Photo-Documentary

For the ended of my semester, I had the opportunity to do an assignment that reflects on the history of pictures. I found this assignment to be very reflective towards the theory of what this class is really about. My photo-documentary was about a family unit. Since I am a generation of 4 within my family unit, I decided to take pictures from my mother’s generation, my sister’s generation, my generation and my nieces’ generation. Looking at these pictures make me realize that each generation is different and that each individual is different. I also realized that within each generation, they try to make their difficulties better for the next generation.

This was a very interesting project because it allowed me to really focus on the history and story of the picture instead of the caption of the moment. It helped me to understand the difficulties that life has to hand to you within certain generations. Its captures the picture in a whole different way that allowed me to appreciate what my history is.

Returns/Reflections

In life, a person will never forget about the nation and their country of birth. It’s almost impossible to do so. Even though a person has moved to another country for better opportunities or a better life for their family, they will even forget their original place of birth. The thoughts of going back may seem scary and overwhelming because sometimes it’s hard to deal with the fact that you as a person has changed, the life style you live has now changed and the surroundings around you have change from when you as a person lived in your place of birth.

Even though a person may change, the society within the country has changed as well. With that being said, if a person goes back to their hometown, they wouldn’t feel the same because everything would look different to them; it wasn’t the same as it was when they used to live in the country. This unit reminded me of the time when my mother went back to her country of birth (Guyana). She left Guyana when she was 28 years old and didn’t return until 20 years later. When she did return, she felt a lot of emotions and a lot of changes that she thought would never happen. She was very happy to what her birth place has become over the years but she was very sad to see the house that she built.

The return of your original place of birth makes you realize, reflect and appreciate what you achieve, and what you earn in life. It allows you to reflect on the opportunities that you we privileged to get and all the things that you achieved on your own.    

"Road to Guantanamo" – A tragedy

As I sit and watch the horrible events that took place within the camps in Guantanamo, I could found a lot of pros and cons towards the U.S. Defense Department. But I am not going to reveal that because I feel that it is very wrong to torcher a human being in that way. A person should have respect and justice to prove that their innocent, not physically harm them for the thought of what they know. I find this clip from the “Road to Guantanamo” to be very moving and I can’t believe the pain and suffering that those people had to face just because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s wrong to judge people by their culture and race, which is discrimination. Although, the attacks that happen on 9/11 is a scary and horrifying event that took place, that doesn’t give any one the reason to discriminate others, it just allows people to have more efficient security and protection.

This picture is basically an inset of what life was like in Guantanamo bay camps. Looking at this picture it’s very hurtful to see, even the clip was hard to watch. The image shows pain, hurt, suffering, survival, patience and passion of freedom in all these men’s body language of movement.

I found a clip of Youtube, which I found was very interesting because it was the very first clip that was released to the public of Guantanamo Bay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXYrYTNo5n4&feature=related

The clip shows the guys being threaten and mentally abused by the U.S. Defense Department because of their static knowledge towards the culture and background of the Muslim guys.

Even though something like this happened in the 2000s, everyone should be a where of the consequences towards criminal offences and to always have faith in who you are and to remember that you are innocent until proven guilty.

Arrested Movement (Human Cargo Movie)

I remember about 3 weeks ago, we saw a movie in class that I found was very interesting due to the fact that I can’t stop think about it. My description of the movie reveals a sense of fear that encounters the actors to show the corruption and disaster that is involved in the land that some people call their home. I think the movie was about 5 different nations and how they dealt with life on a daily basic but although there were 5 different stories, one of the stories really got to me.

The story was about how people struggled for protection in Kwanda. This part gave me a sense of interest that captured my attention. I couldn’t believe that people, especially young children are forced to join a society that is not safe, and which torcher innocent people. It’s sad to know that these camps and societies used to be acknowledging within the world. I don’t understand why these situations were allowed back in the centuries, I don’t understand why people had to face the fact of fear in their hearts, and also that fact of fight for protection.

Reflection of Death Poem

By: Jumah Al Dossari

Take my blood.
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.

Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely.

Send them to the world,

To the judges and

To the people of conscience,

Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded.

And let them bear the guilty burden before the world,

Of this innocent soul.

Let them bear the burden before their children and before history,

Of this wasted, sinless soul,

Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the “protectors of peace.”

As I read this poem I could feel the pain and suffering that this person faced. It revealed a lot of emotions that can encounter hardship and struggles to have the rights that a human being should have. It can also reveal the trials of war within a nation and the force movement, migration and separation between individuals.

With this poem in my mind, I was doing some research about the Tamil Migrates and I found a clip that I found relates to this poem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1UnhPq8Pio

It’s called Ethnic War between Tamil and Sinhalese. As I watch this clip, I could relate to death. The part what captured my eyes was when there were white strings hanging and the narrator said “In Sri Lanka, white strings is the color of death”.  This was very odd to me because from what I know white means peace, but I guess I was wrong.

Arrested Movement

The struggles of being afraid to leave your country of origin, the pressure of fear or the harassment of someone forcing you to leave the country that you know and grew up in is all sources of how the life would be for a person who can be faced with these situations throughout life. It’s not an easy decision to just pick up everything you have and move to another country that you don’t know anything about, but sometimes theirs options and decisions that must be made in order to survive or protect yourself and your family.

In these situations, most people are forced to leave their country and if they refuse, it can be a dangerous world for that person and his family.

 

This reminds me of a time when a ship of Tamil migrants arrived in British Columbia. They were travelling on that ship because they were forced to leave their country. This was a situation where people didn’t have any choice because in Sri Lanka there was a massive war within their nation, which involved the Tamil Tigers at war. These Tamil migrants struggled for 90 days on a ship to arrive in the country of Canada so that they can feel safe and protected from dangerous. Sometimes people need to take a stand and fight for the safety of them although it means leaving the place that was your home.

Even though the Tamils are refugees in Canada, at least they are in a peaceful and danger free zone from wars and fears within their hearts. But these stories are not the end of forced movements and situations within the world as we know it.

Life Story of an Immigrant

This week was very interesting and very emotional for me. This is because I had the opportunity to find out a lot about my family’s history and how they came to Canada. In the “Leaving” section of my blog I indicated how my family came to Canada but I didn’t know their feelings and thoughts towards the whole situation. So this week I had an interview will my sister to found out her feelings towards that situation.

I was very interested in my sister’s thoughts and feelings about her struggles of being an immigrant in Canada and the struggles she had to face. At that time my sister was only a little girl, and she had to struggle to become a normal child, which never happen. Within the interview, I had to stop it a lot of times because as she was telling me her story, I could have seen the pain and hurt that was within her emotions and soul at that time. It brought me to the point where I starting crying because it was a very sad life that she went through. The part that hurt me the most was when she said, “I never had a childhood, I was fighting to make a better life for you and my own children”. All I could say was thank you. 

My interview was very emotional and hurtful because I was interviewing a family member.  It allowed me to respect my sister a lot more. As I was writing her story, a song came in my head; it’s called “Ghetto Story by Baby Cham feat. Alicia Keys”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZnY7J-7Tws

I personally love this song, especially Alicia Keys part because it basically shows the struggle that most children have to face just to survive and to have a better life for themselves and their future generation to come. This relates a lot to my sister’s life and what she had to do.

Sometimes I wonder why it is so hard to be a part of a new country.  Why is it so hard for the first generation? These are the questions that are still unanswered.

Arrivals

As you have noticed in my blogs, I have been expressing my thoughts about the life of an immigrant who migrates to a new country. I have covered my thoughts on departing, and crossing the border, which results in a lot of struggles of emotional and physical effects on a person, but the important unit of the whole process is the arrival to a new country.

The arrival into a new country is the most confusing process to experience. There are a lot of feelings and emotions that surrounds a person’s body. They can feel excitement, scared, nervousness, anxiety, happiness, fear; basically it’s all a new process to face. Although a lot of feelings arise within a person, it can be successful decision for the fact of the arrival to a new country because it can provide greater and better opportunities for higher level employment, better life and the opportunity for your family to have a better life.

Arriving into a new country is very fearful. You may not know what to except, you may feel lost and alone, feel depress, feel out-of-place, just don’t fit into the country’s culture, society and background. Have a feeling of losing your own culture, image and background of who you are and trying to be someone you’re not. But sometimes, it can be a happy arrival because this can give a chance for others to reunite with their families.

Sometimes beginning a new life into a new country can be very hurtful, especially to a new family or person. These hurtful situations can result in racism and discrimination. This causes an emotional pain and stress that is unnecessary.

In this picture it makes me think back to the fact that immigrants think it’s so easy to go and start a new life in another country, but it really isn’t.

In my opinion, I know it’s tough starting a new life in a new country and the arrival of that new country can be a struggle but I find that once you be yourself and try to take the positive image of what the new country has to offer, you can have the chance of a better life, but it’s not that easy to encounter. Sometimes I wonder why their can't be peace in the world that we live in?

The Border

I find that when crossing a border from one country to the next is a very intense moment to experience. It basically explores the difference of boundaries within places, nations, people, languages, religion, ideas and cultures. Before my parents became Canadian Citizens they crossed a lot of borders, which was very emotional for them, but it makes me realize that it is a struggle to be apart of a country that is worth a lot more than just living. This week in class, my classmates and I were watching a documentary on the development of India and Pakistan, which was a terrible time. It was so interesting that I decided to watch more of it at home. This documentary is so moving that I couldn't believe my eyes. The conflict between India and Pakistan should be that way. I feel that everyone should respect everyones religion, but back in those days when Pakistan became a country that wasn't the case. I am wondering why is that? Why were people like that in the 1940s? Why were their so many conflicts in the world? Why is crossing the border so hard to do? All these questions, so little answers. I guess all these questions can be answered by the lives of others and towards history.

Leaving HUMA 043

In today's world that we live in, do you realize how many immigrants migrate to Canada or the United States? Do you realize the struggles they have to face just to become a citizen to one of those countries? My Question that I am trying to ask is why should people be forced or even choose to move from their hometown (place of birth) when they are already born citizens in the country that they live in.
From my experience, my family were known as immigrants that migrated to Canada and the stories that my mother would tell me made me realize how hard life can be when you move to a new country and you don't know that to expect. As for my family they choose to move to Canada because of better opportunities that Canada provided and they just wanted a better life for their children. But that was not an easy process. It took my family 10 years to become Canadian Citizens but the life before that was a struggle. Their was a lot of depression of missing their hometown, a lot of regret for leaving because of the hardship they faced, a lot of jealousy, no support from most of they extended family members, a lot of rejection, no place to live, no money and basically nothing to call your own.
I know leaving one country and going to another can be a hard process, but sometimes some people don't have a choice; they have to because of violence, crime, discrimination, war or even threat within their country. Sometimes safety is the only thing that would matter in these situations so they would have to leave everything that they own and all their memories behind. This can cause depression upon the person.
Some situation can result in leaving family members behind, which causes more hardship and pain. The moral to my thoughts is that when leaving your country that you called your home its very hard to be excepted into another country, which can take a toll on you and the process that you have to face.

Introduction

Hello my name is Sindy Prasad, I am a 2nd year student going to college and I am taking a course that teaches and let us explore the concept of migrations and immigration between countries. I choose this class because my family migrated to Canada and I really wanted to know more about the struggles and the hardship that my family had to go thorough soo that I would know about it as well.