Group 2 – First Prize
I Am
By Amrit Kaur Babbar
I am a child working at the age of five.
I am a human being tortured – in the form of a girl
I am looking for a better life…healthier water…happiness…I am an orphan
I am the death in poor countries…I am the reality of poverty.
I am a slave, thrown into prison for disobeying.
I am an open-minded refugee giving back all that’s known.
I am a bomb that falls apart in war…I am sorrow.
I am holding on to the terrible past but letting go of the wonderful future.
I am hiding for shelter just to live and looking for joy to live out the pain.
I am a disgrace for some cultures…and a subject of racism.
I am a mother fighting for her children’s rights.
I am a life dropping like a roller coaster.
I am a refugee but no one seems to care.
I am downing in my own tears.
I am shouts of freedom.
I am dying before I am born.
I am an empty plate for hungry stomachs and a burden in my parents’ eyes.
I am sold away to an unknown world.
I am culture after culture being split apart.
I am raising my voice, but then I die… I am discrimination.
I am dirty water in the fresh water pond.
I am alone, growing my own home.
I have suffered enough, and now I deserve joy…but still…
I am a refugee calling out rights.