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Showing posts with label Erwin Casildo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Erwin Casildo. Show all posts

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Together We Can

Erwin Casildo
Period 2
Ms.Tompkins
Together We Can
Her name was Reyna. She was always there for me and today it is my turn to be here for her, at least for the last remaining moments the genius man from above has given her. My father Fabian is weak, he is losing the beautiful woman that made him the man he is now.
“Don’t leave your family, hold on tight and fight abuelita” my fathered suplicated holding her beautiful wrinkly hands.
There was no response. He was speechless and he just held her for the moments that remained.  His eyes were watery. When his tears slowly rolled down his cheeks I could feel them rolling down my cheeks, almost as if his tears were mine. They were filled with a contagious burning venom, every tear that dripped the more the pain inside my chest kept increasing.
She was the person I looked up to when times were rough, she was the person I was always excited and happy to see every day after school. My grandmother would always welcome me with a very warm hug full of happiness and love. Her smile and her laugh made this place brighter. I wish I could trade places with her but I cannot, unfortunately some things in life are controlled by pure destiny. There is nothing anyone can do when God decides it is time for someone to leave this mysterious yet wonderful place called Earth.
My father's mind was full of fear, his eyes full of weakness and his heart full of all the beautiful memorable memories they lived through. My abuelita was not only his mother she also played the role of a father after my grandfather lost his life in a car accident when my father was only three months old. She gave everything she had to my father and his siblings.
As the time kept passing I could feel her trying to tell us that it was time for her to leave beyond this world to another dimension. My mother and my sister walked inside the hospital’s dark room where they found me and my father sitting next to where my grandmother laid. They both hugged my father and tried to comfort him. Everyone in the room was silent no one was moving. Powerless we all sat around our fallen queen, I could hear all of our hearts beating as if it were one. It brought me comfort and it made me stronger knowing that my family was together. Together we would get  through this tough moment, the only things left to do was to stay there for the last moments that remained.
I sat next to my mother and a million memories ran through my head at that moment. I thought to myself  “Why is it that God takes all of the wonderful people with him first? She is and always will be my hero “                                                                                                          Moments passed and no one said a word until my uncle Hector came in. He stood in front of the door looking dejected.
“She can’t leave us, not now “ he cried.
My father stood up slowly looking at my uncle straight in the eyes, he gave him a hug and whispered something in his ear.
I knew that every minute that passed, the time was coming. She was slowly breathing but her eyes were closed.  I was completely terrified she would leave forever without saying goodbye. I needed to see her bright smile one last time, I needed one last hug.
The five of us prayed quietly to God, that was the only thing we could do. One hour passed and finally she woke up. She was very weak and it was hard for her to speak, when she looked at all of us, she smiled. My father and uncle spoke to her first to her first, my mother when second, I went third and my sister went last. We stared at each other for a couple of seconds.
“I love you and I will be with you forever” she said looking at me straight in the eyes
“I love you to abuelita, don’t say that you’ll be fine we can get through this.”  I hugged her softly.  
“I am old” she said smiling.
I did not want to let go of her but I had to let her rest. I got up gently and I  let my sister speak to her. As I turned my back against her, tears started to come out again.  
After two hours of being with her, God took our queen away, my abuelita left this world forever but we knew she was in a better place now. What hurt my family and I the most was not being able to do anything for her. We could not fight with her, we had absolutely no power in our hands. My family and I had to stick together. She lived for seventy-six years, those years were full hard work for her family. She always put others before herself, she was a complete hero. When you have no power to change an issue accepting that you can’t can be difficult but with the people that support you, it is easier. Together you can move forward.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

A World Without progress

Erwin Casildo
WLH   
Ms.Tompkins
13 March, 2015
A World Without Progress
Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ” In Tanzania, Africa  there are many families that are currently being affected by the issue of poverty. Because of this issue, they cannot provide their children with a decent education. According to UNICEF  “Across the continent, millions of families currently subsist on less than a dollar a day, only those who read, write can hope to get a better paid job when they grow up.”  It is extremely difficult for the children to get an education because their parents cannot afford to pay for the basic needs to get a decent education, such as books and pencils. The issue of poverty is making the children of Africa blind, they are not able to see what they are truly capable of .
    The number of young girls that are being affected by the issue of poverty is extremely high . According to The New York Times (47%) of primary school aged girls in Tanzania are not attending school” (Tina Rosenburg). This is a huge number, it is nearly half of of the young girls population in Tanzania. The  children  do not go to school  because many of them do not live walking distance to a nearby school and the roads are too dangerous for them to walk alone.  The young girls that do not attend school are forced to stay home and help around the house by cleaning and cooking. According to UNICEF  “40% of  young women begin to have children by the age 18, the country has one of the highest adolescence pregnancy rates in the world.” This is because young girls are not being taught on how to protect themselves. Uneducated women are in higher risk of being contaminated by HIV/AIDS and they are also most likely to have a unsuccessful future.
Not only are girls  being affected, boys are too. The overall percentage of primary age students that do not attend school is very high . According on a Brookings article on education in Tanzania “58% of 5-to-6-year-old in Tanzania do not attend pre-primary schools”  (Justin Van Fleet). This is over half of the children in Tanzania. This affects the future of the young children as each and everyone of them represents the future of Africa. The only way of getting out of poverty is through education but poverty is the reason why  future generations cannot grow as humans. The vibrant children dream of an academic success but they cannot pursue it because they are stuck in a world of no progress.
Overall, poverty is not allowing the children of Tanzania reach their goal of finding an academic success and having a brighter future. It is not allowing the children to make a change in their country. They are stuck in poverty and this  this makes them see no hope, clearly the children are stuck in a world with no progress.






                                                                     Work Cited
Rosenburg Tina. "Empowering Women, Developing Society: Female Education in the Middle East 
and North Africa." Empowering Women, Developing Society: Female Education in the Middle East and North Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2015 . "(47%) of primary school aged girls in Tanzania are not attending school.”
Van Fleet, Justin. "Africa's Education Crisis: In School But Not Learning." The Brookings Institution. Brookings, 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. “58% of 5-to-6-year-old in Tanzania do not attend pre-primary schools” 
Unicef. "UNICEF – Schools for Africa – Country Story - South Africa." UNICEF – Schools for Africa. Unicef, 2013. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.  “Across the continent, millions of families currently subsist on less than a dollar a day, only those who read, write can hope to get a better paid job when they grow up.”   “40% of  young women begin to have children by the age 18, the country has one of the highest adolescence pregnancy rates in the world.”










Thursday, October 9, 2014

Civilization and the Westernized World

Symbol One: Movies

Sijie uses the symbol of movies in this book to represent and symbolize love, wonder, and civilization. First, the movies represent civilization in the deserted and unsophisticated world Luo and the narrator are stuck in. The movies are something viewed by people in the cities and the mountain villages; they are a connector between rural and urban. In this way, they symbolize civilization. The second combination of related concepts they represent are love and wonder. The love and maturity of the people in the movies is reflected in the Little Seamstress, Luo, and the narrator, helping them to come of age. The movies help them grow up by showing them idealized adults.

‘“As for us, we were content to watch her lovely face bathed in the luminous colours bouncing off the screen. Now and then everything would go dark and her eyes would shine like spots of phosphorus in the gloom. Then suddenly, when the scene changed, her face would light up, flush with colour, and blossom in wonder.” (81-82)

‘Her words pierced my heart. “It’s so much better when it’s you telling the story.”’ (82)

Sijie uses the symbol of the suitcase to represent mystery and the knowledge of the books. The mystery in the books helps them accept that there are some things they may never understand. Additionally, it represents the Westernized world that they so miss. When one starts growing up, they start to experience different things in their life. We see mysterious things that change our point of view in the world. For some people they see positive changes and others see things as negative. We start to see beyond one person and the little things that make them special to us. As we grow up we can discover ourselves and start learning what is important to us.

“Four-Eyes had a secret suitcase, which he kept carefully hidden.” (45).

“The heightened vigilance, and distrust shown by Four-Eyes, in spite of the friendship between us, seemed to substantiate Luo’s theory, and we grew convinced that the suitcase was indeed filled with banned books.”(50).

‘Luo broke silence the silence.“I expect they’re books,” he said. “The way you keep your suitcase locked up and hidden away is enough to betray your secret: you’ve got a stash of forbidden books”’ (49).

Physical Representations: