Big Love- Small disease

Love can always show when people face big struggles. Even though many people think Hong Kong is a place that lacks a human touch, during the year 2002 SARS disease, I could feel Hong Kong is like a big family, which is silent but cheering with each other from our hearts. SARS was the biggest event occurred in recent years. Over three hundred people died because of this disease. However, this made my mom worked under a dangerous condition and my family and I lived in haunt and fear every day. School was closed, and my grandmother turned into a SARS patient for one day. SARS did not the only affect the public, but it had also did big effect on my family.

SARS was the biggest struggle that happened to my family. My mother is a nurse and she worked in the public hospital. During the outbreak of SARS, everyone was worried about if their family members would get the disease, because once you were confirmed to have SARS, you had to be separated in the special department of hospital for seven days with same kind of patients. Also, the hospitals are a dreadful place for everyone during that time. However, my mom worked there every day. Despite the SARS outbreak, she still had responsibly to go to work. Every day she went to work, my family and I were worried that she might catch the disease. Nevertheless, my mom knew that she worked under a dangerous condition; she was more concerned about us. She worried about if she go back home after work, she might bring the virus with her, and it might inflected her family. Therefore, she preferred to stay in the hospital after she got off from work than come back home and be around her family.

During the period of SARS, Hong Kong was suddenly turned into a city of the dead. In Year2002, I was in my primary school. One day, the government announced that schools in Hong Kong is going to close for a month. As a nine year old girl, all I could do was cheer, and I couldn't wait to share this good news with my best friend. However, this long vacation was the beginning of my nightmare. I realized that the city had suddenly turned into a dead zone. The streets which used to be crow in one minute crossed by three hundred people, during that time, were only crossed by three people. Everyone was wearing marks in the street. Moreover, I was not allowed to hang out in public places either. My parents forced me to stay home every day. Therefore, no one could really enjoy this long "vacation".

Furthermore, my grandparents were included as the high-risk of getting SARS. The government encourage people to check their temperature every day. Once they had a temperature higher than normal, they were not supposed to go anywhere but the hospital. However, one day my grandmother was checked and she had a high temperature. My mom was so worried about her and my entire family was wondering is we should take her to the hospital, even if she didn't get the SARS, still she had to be separated in the virus department with all kinds of sick patients. Therefore, my mom decided to let her stay home on the first day, and she was looked after by all of my family members. Luckily, she got well by the second day, and then we all had breathed out the stress.

Between the period of SARS, a lot of people lost their cherished family members. This disease was like a trial from God. Some people run through the trail and learned how to love, but some people weren't that lucky to have a chance to pass this trial. However, I learned how to treasure our love. I realized that family is the backbone of my life, no matter how bad situation I am in , only family will give me unconditional love. When my mom preferred to stay alone in a feared condition than let her family get in danger. It showed me that love can overcome any disease.

Facing Adversities

There is an adage that the good comes with the bad. The global economic collapse hit all over the world, so many people faced financial problems. My family and I could not avoid this adversity. My parents invested in real estate and prepared to run a Korean traditional restaurant, but those things failed because of the global economic collapse. My family and I had to struggle against this hardship together. This event led to my family’s financial problems, the deterioration of my parents’ health, and the postponement of my study abroad. The global economic collapse made my family go through a big ordeal.

My parents were heavily in debt because my parents’ business suffered and their investments failed after the global economic collapse. My father invested in real estate and bought an apartment for our future. We expected the value of the apartment to increase more than the funds that my father had invested. However, the value of the apartment had a sudden decline owing to the economic collapse, so my father did not want to sell at that price. He even had to levy a lot of property taxes, for we had two apartments. Also, my mother was not able to continue running her restaurant. My mother borrowed the money from her acquaintances to manage the restaurant, but it was a huge burden on her. My mother was supposed to pay back the money to her friends, but she could not afford it. Thus, my father eventually took the loss and sold the apartment to help my mother. These investment and business failures not only caused financial problems for my family, but caused another problem as well.

My parents’ health began to be aggravated because of the investment and the business failures. My father made a big effort to pay it back his loss from the investment failure, and he also supported my mother’s work. My father had to work too hard and got a lot of pressure, but he never showed his feelings to my mother, my brother, my sister, or me. Finally, he had a heart attack. My father already had heart disease and a hardened artery. Even though he had to avoid a lot of stress and pressure, he did not. He felt responsible for caring for us. When my mother heard of her husband’s news, she was very surprised. My mother was weak originally; besides, she had experienced a hard time because of the failure of her restaurant and received my father’s help. She thought it was all her fault. This thinking caused her thyroid to act up, and she had aches all over her body for no reason. Because of the global economic collapse, my parents’ health was compromised, and then it influenced me.

Due to the above reasons of the financial problem and my parents’ health issue, my study abroad was postponed indefinitely. I was not able to prepare for studying abroad because my parents could not afford to support me financially or physically. I had to take care of my parents, especially my father. Caring for my parents was left to me because my father needed to rest to recover his health, and my mother’s health was compromised. At that time, my brother was between jobs. It was very hard to get good jobs because of the global economic collapse. Only my sister was working for the family. For this reason, I could not focus on the preparation of my studies. Studying abroad requires a lot of money. Before the global economic collapse, my parents were able to support my study plans, but it was impossible to do it then. I seriously considered giving up my plans to study abroad due to my family’s situation. Fortunately, I was able to prepare my study abroad again. My parents’ health began to recover, and my big brother found a job.

The global economic collapse shook the world. Many major companies suffered from bankruptcy, and many families had financial problems. My family and I went through serious hardships; however, our family bond was stronger. I like this expression that iron gets stronger if it keeps getting hit constantly. The global economic collapse hit my family, but we were able to maintain very strong bonds. Nevertheless, the effect of the crisis still lingers our lives. My family has not overcome the adversity perfectly, but we still struggle against those obstacles. This situation helped me realize the importance and gratitude and gratitude and my family.

Benin National Congress

In the past, Africa was known as a colonized continent. Many years after the colonization, most of the countries got their independence. In Benin, even though we got our independence in 1960, the country was still under control of France. By that time, no one can work freely. My parents were not able to do their own business. Their will to become owner of a business never been realized at that specific period. In order to remedy that system, a National Congress was made. This revolution brought happiness in my family, and it was a new beginning for my parents.

First of all, this new change helped my father become the owner of an enterprise. He never enjoyed working for people, but because of the previous system, he was not able to do whatever he wanted. Thus, he created his enterprise and hired people to work in. My father was very happy, because in his opinion, having a business can grant you flexibility and more time, especially with business type that does not always require your physical presence to work. Also, he can make more money over the long-term as the businesses grow and become stable. My mother really encouraged him, and was his financial partner. The atmosphere immediately changed at home; mostly my parents discussed about some decisions they wanted to take about their business. Beginning from that period, my parents could spend more time with my sisters, brother and I; every weekend, we stay together and do some interesting stuffs, such as go to the cinema, go to the restaurant, go shopping, travel together.

Secondly, my uncle Stephan was elected to be part of the government; he was so excited. Before, he never agreed with some decisions that had been taken. Often, he criticized the government and wish he could be part of it one day in order to express his opinion and help the needy. Once he was elected as the head of the city, he tried his best to satisfy the population needs; moreover the population’s suggestions are very welcome. Because of his kindness, the population really appreciated him, and never wanted him to go. Sometimes, when he came to visit us, my father encouraged and congratulated him for all he did for the population. We all were very proud of him; and sometimes when people talked about him, I could say proudly that he is my uncle. Also, because of his position in the government, he could help some of my cousins find a good job.

Another effect of the national congress is that my country became partner of some economic organizations. Because of those partnerships, we can travel to many countries very easily, without getting a visa; we just need the passport. It helps my parents in their business; they were able to travel whenever they want in order to meet some partners. Also for the holydays, we do not have to stay home. Sometimes, we went to other countries and had joys there. Thus, we visited a lot of countries and learn about their cultures. That was very helpful for my parents and me. In addition, we had had a lot of friends from other countries.

Every country has a memorable event that is useful or not for everyone. The National Congress was the most helpful for my country, especially for my family. It brings amazing changes in our daily life. Even though we still need some good modifications, the congress was certainly the first step toward our development. My parents became very joyful and our lifestyle changes in a better way.

Growing up among Cannons by Maria Cervino

Growing up among Cannons

Brazil is considered a peaceful country. In contrast to the Middle East, the country never struggled with religious disputes. I was born in 1963, and in 1964, a military coup deposed the country’s president and installed a military regime, which reduced the civil rights of the Brazilian people for two decades. It was the beginning of the dictatorship. I was brought up during this period, and what I remember from this time was some violent attitudes of the government that censored many political and cultural forms of expression. For instance, many musical artists were exiled because their lyrics criticized the regime. Fortunately, this period didn’t affect my family intensely, but in many ways I faced the reality of living under a military dictatorship during my school life.

My school day was organized according to some military practices. Every day upon arriving and leaving the school, we had to march towards the courtyard and then sing the national anthem. Every Friday we also hoisted the flag at the same time. One of the kids was chosen to be the master of ceremonies, and it was a personal honor. We could never be late or make even a small noise during that hour; otherwise, we could be sent to the bottom of the waiting list and lose recess privileges for one week. All the public and private schools were obliged by the government to conduct this event even though many of their principals were against this procedure and considered it a wasting of time. The military government also had their fingers in the school curriculum. From the first to eighth grade, the school was also required to introduce a subject called “Morality and Citizenship”. The content was about the official government powers, symbols, laws and military practices. In general, the students didn’t like to study or to memorize the subjects which were boring. From time to time, the school invited an army officer to make us a speech about the Second World War history. We enjoyed it because at the end of the speech, the guest distributed many military souvenirs. I also remember going on field trips to military museums and fortifications with my classmates and having a lot of fun.

Moreover, I have many memories from my childhood of going to patriotic events. September 7th is the Brazilian Independence day, and every year, the government promoted a military parade in one of the downtown streets. Some schools, but not all of them, also joined the parade with a band singing their own anthem. I had never participated in any of the parades with my school, but my father who was quite in favor of the military regime usually brought me. I remember, it was always crowded and difficult to reach a good viewing point. On the way, we bought a small Brazilian flag and pins to use on our caps. When the parade started, I was mesmerized by the military tanks and cannons, but I confess that every year going to the same event was tedious.

In 1986, when I was in college the military regime ended. A democratic regime was installed again, and people recovered their rights to vote for president. Many political rallies took place on the streets, and I participated in many of them looking for freedom and for better days. On the other hand, even being against the military regime, in many ways this restricted education showed me the principals about citizenship and patriotism and I feel proud to be Brazilian.