A new start

Peter, one of the 'lost boys' from Sudan's Dinka tribe was force to migrate to Kenya because of the civil war that started in Sudan. The Sudanese people lived in refugee camps where they waited until their names were on the list of the group that would go to America and start a new life. Peter was chosen to go to America and he left with a mind to get a good education and help his family, people in the refugee camp and the people of Sudan in general by sending back money. Peter thought America would be like heaven and it was heaven for him and the rest of the ‘lost boys’ at the beginning because they could eat anytime they wanted to and everything was just better than Africa. However, Peter’s mind started to change as time went by. He realized that life in America was harder than the life in Africa.

Peter started to come across problems. He wasn’t being educated as much as he wanted to be, life in his apartment was dangerous because the security level was very low, needed more money to send back to Africa, and the life he was living wasn’t the way he expect it to be. After living for a while in Houston he moved to Kansas. From here a lot of things changed for Peter, many things started to meet his needs.

When he arrived at Kansas he met with some of the other Sudanese refugees and stayed with them for a while. Here he learnt from them that he could get a birth certificate and apply himself to a public high school. He applied to Olathe East High School. From this school he was well educated, and started to pick up the American life real quick. He played basketball with his American friends, went to church to fit in with people, attended parties, got driving license, dressed up and talked like an American teenager. Everything seemed to turn out well for him. However not everything turned out to be a good thing. Peter came across stereotypes the people set towards his race (racism). The boss at walmart said to Peter and the other workers (that had dark colored skin/black) that they can work under the heat because they were already used to working under heat because Africa is very hot. The teacher at his high school expected him to go into the easy classes and came to a conclusion that he would be going to a community college because he expected Peter to not meet the standards a normal college was looking for. But Peter worked hard and changed the thought that his teacher had. Peter also learnt and saw that people judged people by their skin color and if a person was black he was judged as a dangerous or a person in a lower class than them. Facing the racism and stereotypes weren't the only problem he came across. Peter had more responsibilities, because he had to go to school, study, make his own food, work, do his school work, and send back money to Africa. Peter surely has a much better life than Santino (his friend from Sudan who is still living in Houston) but Peter does come across problems too.

Although Peter has not yet fully accustomed to life in America living in Kansas got Peter to think that life is actually becoming easier in America than in Africa as time goes by, which is because Peter is adapting to the life in America.