It's the heaven there!

My name is Peter Nyarol Dut. I'm from Sudan. I lost my parent from Sudanese civil war that has raged on for 20 years. I was forced to move from Sudan because of the awful civil war. When I was living in Kakuma refugee camp, there were many other Dinka boys without parents just like me. Some of my friends were sent to America to make a new life. In 2000, I was chosen to migrate to America (Houston) for a better life with my friend Santino Majok Chuor. When I first came to America, I had a hard time facing racism and the African-Americans. At the Kakuma refugee camp, the old man told all the boys that all the African-Americans are in jail. The old man didn't want the boys to be like African-Americans. In America, African-Americans were being racist to Sudanese by comparing their skin color. In the bus to work, all the people were staring at me because my skin color was unusually darker than anybody else. This made me really uncomfortable. Some African-Americans came into Sudanese house with gun and asked them for money. I also had trouble assimilating into American Culture. In Sudan, all the boys had lots of physical contact with the same gender. We were all holding hands when I was leaving. However, Americans thought that as a homosexual or gay. Most of the boys understood the American culture and stopped the physical contact with same gender. However one boy had a hard time assimilating the American culture.

I decided to move to Kansas for better education. When I started to go to Olathe East High School, I started to make friends. Also, I realized that there is no way to get rid of the stereotype. Therefore, I decided to live with it. Somehow, I also started to use some slang from American culture while I'm talking to my friends. I saw some friends wearing big t-shirts and baggy jeans. I bought some of those cloths and started to wear them at school. While I was working at the Wal-Mart, the manager made us to more works because our skin color was black and she thought us as workers who can work in the heat who came from really hot country. I felt really guilty about how she spoke. However, I tried to ignore the racism. Involving more into education, I had not much time to work and earn money. One day, my friend from Sudan called me and asked me to send some money to Sudan to help other kids or at least call her everyday. However, it isn't that easy for me to call from America to Sudan. I don't even have enough money to pay my room rent. Sometimes, after finishing my work and homework, it's almost 1 o clock. I really don't have much time to call Sudan. I am still under this great pressure from Sudan to help other Dinka boys. I worked really hard from my high school and I am going to Green Mountain College in Vermont with a full scholarship.

It was my hard journey from Sudan to America. Coming to America was the most amazing conflict I went through. I had to face lots of stereotypes and racism. However, I realized that assimilating into American culture was to understanding rather than facing the other culture. Religious, skin color and lifestyle was definitely different between American and Sudan. However, American gave us better life. They supported us and hopes more Dinka boys to be migrated from Sudan to America untill the civil war end.