Category Archives: Opinion

A refugee’s story of hope

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Dhan Bhattarai, Patterson student and Nepali refugee (Photo: Patterson Press)

By Dhan Bhattarai,

A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution or natural disasters. Refugees are strong people because they have to survive many difficulties and hardships.

Some Nepali people lived in the neighboring country of Bhutan for many years. They were forced to leave the country in 1990. They lived in Nepal as refugees for about 22 years under the shelter of bamboo, plastic and tents.

I lived in a refugee camp in the eastern part of Nepal. The conditions were miserable and did not offer many opportunities. We did not have fresh food to eat, clothes to wear, adequate sanitation, health services, or even a place to sleep.  We did not have an opportunity to receive a good education due to our poverty. We must give thanks to God because, fortunately, we found UNHCR and CARIAS Nepal. These organizations changed our lives. These two organizations provide food shelter, clothes, plastic, bamboo and free English education to Bhutanese refugees.

The conditions were gloomy; our school was made of bamboo and plastic and our classroom was very small, and there were 42 students in one class. There I completed up through the eighth grade despite not having air conditioning or electricity. It was such a tough experience.

Some time had passed before the international organization for migration offered a third country resettlement program. Today we are here in this land of opportunity because of that organization. When we were in the refugee camp, we did not have any hope that life would get better. Yet today we have lots of hope to build a better future because we have a golden chance to study in an American high school and also we have a chance to become American citizens. If the U.S. government helps me to study on the college level then I will be very grateful because I’m very hopeful to accomplish many goals.

Inside the girls soccer team

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(Photo: Patterson Press)

By Kibra Brutus,

 

This year I’m playing soccer, and I think we are doing well this month. Last week we won a game with Dunbar. The score was 7- 0, and they were mad enough to fight, but our coach, Mr.Cox, took us to our locker room. It was funny because they all were really mad, but the game was just for fun. They didn’t have to get mad. Anyway, last Thursday we had a game with Digital, and we beat them by 4-2. The first time we played them it didn’t make sense because they scored 6 goals, but we only scored 4.

This Monday we had a game with Western, and we played really hard because most of them knew how to play. In the first 40 minutes we scored 3 goals, and we were really good. In the second 40 minutes we scored only one because the other team had gotten better. After we scored one, the other team got the ball, and my friend, Reema, was on defense she went straight to the ball. But the other girl was coming to get the ball to, they both crashed and Reema got hurt my friend, Renee helped carry her off the field.

Then when we finished the game my friend Reema, couldn’t stand up because her knee was hurting her. I think Coach Cox called 911 and they came to take her. I was really really sad because she had to go to the hospital by herself. They didn’t let anyone go with her, when she went there she stayed until 1:00 AM and they gave her crutches to walk with.

The thing that makes me really mad is she can’t play the last game with City, and were done after that. I don’t want to lose because I want to make Reema happy. I hope we’ll win and our next game is on Thursday, 16th 2014 i’ll do my best to make Reema happy with our best team.

Teacher Talk: October 2014

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Editor’s Note:  This is the first month for a new feature called “Teacher Talk” which The Patterson Press will do every month. We will ask teachers a question that is related to the current month. Check back next month for the next Teacher Talk.

By Xavier Williams,

In this month of October something scary and fun happens: Halloween. So I decided to ask teachers a question that connects with that theme. My question was “What is your biggest fear and why?”. Here are some of the responses I got:

“My biggest fear is drowning because I am an awesome swimmer and it would frighten me if I couldn’t breathe.”

-Ms.Shank, Biology teacher

 
“Currently my biggest fear is leaving this earth before my sons are in a position to care for them selves.” 

-Mr.Antoine, Special Education

 
“One of my biggest fears is to lose somebody close to me and not have the chance to see him/her before going to heaven. This is especially true for people like me, immigrants, who leave away from everything they know.”

-Ms.Varela, Engineering Teacher

(Photos by Xavier Williams and Shane Braden, Patterson Press)

 

Next month’s question will be: “What are you most thankful for?”

Curfew law goes too far (OPINION)

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(Illustration by Shane Braden, Patterson Press)

by Regina Bell,

The Baltimore City Council passed a controversial new curfew law on August 8th, 2014. According to the Baltimore Sun, “[c]hildren under the age of 14 have to be inside by 9 p.m., while teens ages 14-16 have to be inside by 10 p.m. on school nights and 11 p.m. on non-school nights”. The curfew law stipulates that if you are under the minimum age and the police catch you violating the curfew, your parents have to pay a $500 fine.

I think that the curfew law should only be for children under the age of 14, because some teenagers have jobs or do other things to earn money, like babysit. I feel as though teenagers are not going to get the experience they need in the work field if they can not work the hours that are required.  I do not think that they should get picked up by the police for certain things like coming home late from hanging out with friends, coming from school, or a sporting game. It is not fair to the young people who are doing good and staying out of trouble after the curfew. If their school is too far from their home than the police should not have a problem with them coming home late. I think that if they are doing a good deed then they shouldn’t get taken away for being late. I think that young people should have a certification card or document that says that they have a job and work later than ten o’ clock.

I asked some other people in my community and school about the curfew law, including Ms. England, Patterson’s community liaison. Her opinion is that people in the neighborhood should help the kids to go inside their house during the curfew time. She also said that they should have recreation centers open for teenagers that stay open until around ten o’clock. Additionally, she believes that the police should be friendlier towards the kids and not harass them. If they catch someone breaking the curfew, they should take them to a recreation center close to home rather than putting them in jail.

I with agree her because some people’s parents cannot afford to come pick up their kids up from jail or another far-away location, so their kids have to stay there until the police decide to release them on their own. I do not think that is fair or appropriate for a young person who was not doing anything wrong but only getting home late. I also think that parents should automatically stay on top of their child or children about them coming home late because something can happen to them and their parents might not know where they are.

In conclusion, I believe that while there may be a need for some kind of curfew for younger children, the new curfew law is too strict and unfairly punishes teenagers who are not doing anything wrong.

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