Expressing Her Feelings

Being a kid is hard. Being a kid who is separated from a parent is even harder. That was the case for a fourth grade girl at one of our partner elementary schools.

During the spring of 2018, her father was deported. Her heartbroken mother could only watch as her daughter struggled with her feelings and studies at the end of the school year — her smile replaced with tears.

Luckily, her mom learned about our free summer camp. Surrounded by familiar faces of classmates and teachers from the school year, little by little and day by day, the young girl slowly began to smile again. One thing in particular that helped her was poetry. She read and discussed poems, many of them about America, such as America by Adar, Time Travel to Ellis Island in 1900 by Natalia Teneyuque, and Harlem by Anthony Bunton. During writing activities, she wrote poetry to her dad and about her dad. She said it made her feel connected to him.

Because our summer camp uses outlets like poetry to help kids express themselves and process feelings, the young girl was able to grieve the loss of her father.

At the end of the summer, her mom said our summer camp helped her daughter reclaim the joy and laughter she had lost. It helped her blossom.

Selection of Poems by ARF Kids From our 2018 Summer Camp

America

America

means

everyone

is

an

American

with

equal

rights.

By Adar

Time Travel to Ellis Island in 1900

Dear Journal,

I time traveled to Ellis Island. The people I met were nice. A lady shared some bread and cheese with me. Her family didn't speak much English. I was thankful that they shared food with me, so I taught their daughter to make dolls. I made a basket for them so they can carry their things. After that, we got to eat fruit and then soup. Then we sang songs that were really different and went to sleep.

The next morning, we ate some bread and we played with dolls.

Then it started getting hot. I was super hot, but I knew I couldn't wear shorts or shirts--we needed to wear dresses. We made more dolls and played all day. At night, we ate eggs and we went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up and I was back in 2018.

By Natalia

Harlem

Hate is not a thing in America

All white and black can play and communicate with each other

Red roses and beautiful flowers sometimes bring people together

Love, respect, honor, and sharing are important feelings in America Everybody can share and explore America and live in America Men, women, black, and white can share feelings now instead of keeping them inside, like in the old days of the world.

By Anthony