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Monday, February 3, 2020

"The Birthplace of Humanity" by Joshua- Zion H


A home where I’ve never lived
My home is in a place to which I’ve never lived
I’ve always felt connected, despite our barrier between Like a mesh screen, obscuring what cannot be seen But it is still my home
It’s not always been a beautiful place
Violence is a beating heart, hatred coursing through its veins Brother versus Brother, how did it come to be this way After the 15 century, it will never be the same
But it is still my home
The scar of imperialism has already done its damage
People tellin’ me to go back to where I came from, but I never have yet But I will soon, or at least that’s what the plan is
To visit my roots in the Savanna grasslands
That’s why I’m proud to say
And I mean this in every way
The birthplace of humanity, Africa
Is my home and in my heart, it will forever stay 


     When I wrote this piece during my sophomore year, I had no idea that I would go to Africa two years later. My late grandfather, grandmother, and mother are from a small West African country called Sierra Leone or as we call it ‘Salone’. I’ve always known that my mother’s side of my family is from there and I can even speak the native tongue called Krio. My grandmother never spoke about her childhood and what it was like to live in Sierra Leone and I would never really ask, so growing up I didn’t know much about Sierra Leone expect the fact that it’s in Africa and I have family out there. One of my grandmother’s closest friends had a husband that recently died and she told my grandmother that she could go with her back home. The rest of the family saw this as an opportunity for us all to visit our homeland, because the last time they tried to go, the airline went out of business a week or so before they were supposed to depart. Fast word 14 years later, I’m on my way to LAX and beginning my journey to the homeland. But getting there was no easy feat, let me tell you that. First starters, my mom almost made us our flight at LAX because she somehow lost both her itinerary and mine so she wanted to print out another set at my grandmother’s house. But neither my aunts or I had any idea that this happened because my mom told us that she needed to get some bags or something. When my aunt finally went inside to see what my mom was doing, she absolutely lost it because we were already running out of time to get to the airport. By some miracle of God, we made it just in time for our flight to Montreal for our layover and we stayed there for about 6 hours before we got on a 12-hour flight to Sierra Leone. Have you ever gone somewhere, when you’ve never been but still feel right at home? That’s exactly how I felt when
we landed. It was so amazing to experience my people’s culture first hand because when I was growing up, all I got to hear were stories. Seeing family members for the first time, interacting with locals, brushing up on my Krio and going to where my ancestors were living were all-powerful things I encountered and I would 100% do it all over again. This whole trip was very important and meaningful to me because I already crossed going to my homeland off my bucket list and when I heard Steve Harvey encouraging all black people to go back to Africa once in their lifetime, I knew for sure that I need to do it as well. So I also encourage African-Americans and other ethnicities as well to go to Africa because not only is it culturally diverse and awesome to experience, it’s also because it’s the birthplace of humanity.

10 comments:

  1. It was so cool that you introduced your post with a poem. As a self-proclaimed poetry enthusiast, I appreciated your use of metaphor and emotion within your poetry even as a sophomore. I also related to your desire to visit your homeland at least once in your lifetime because I speak Vietnamese and hear all the family stories yet I have yet to visit Vietnam. Your enthusiasm for world travel and experience of culture is contagious. Thank you for sharing your story!

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  2. I really enjoyed your poem at the beginning of your story! It has got me thinking about going to Africa one day as well. I can relate to the hectic schedule before travel but all the minor setbacks were soon forgotten due to the amazing trip. Unfortunately the reason for going was sad but I'm so happy that you enjoyed your time there and got to have an experience that most people wont in their lifetime, seeing their homeland! Great job :) - kayla j

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  3. Josh, this was such an interesting story. The fact that you were able to experience your homeland just a couple years ago was probably amazing for you! Well done :)

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  4. Man we have been friends since freshman year and I never even knew any of this about you. I really like the introduction of the poem and the transition to your story and how you gave a great feel of your experience in both getting to Sierra Leone and your time there as well as what visiting there meant to you. This was a great story and I'm glad you shared it with us.

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  5. I understand how cool it can be to see where your family started, My parents are from Mexico and I love going over there to see all the places they would go to as teenagers or as children, places my grandparents took my dad and etc. Its much better than just hearing the stories. I know Mexico isn't as cool to visit as Africa tho, I cant even imagine how excited you must have been to go embark on this amazing journey to learn more about your life. - kate sainz

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  6. I really like this, considering the beginning of the post began with a poem and used a giant metaphor to keep the story moving. I love looking at the world and how people travel around and your love for the same subject is amazing!

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  7. I like that you incorporated the connection and the visit to you visit your grandparents. The poem in beginning was very meaningful as well and set up the whole mood talking about returning to roots. Overall great story and great job writing.

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  8. I very much enjoyed this, I'm happy to hear that you finally got to meet your family and got to learn about your culture / where you came from. - Yishai Renteria

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  9. That's really cool how you got to see the birthplace of your culture. That's an opportunity that I would take in a heartbeat. I'm glad that you wrote about this so that I could enjoy it along with you.

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  10. I loved that you included a poem in your blog. It really displayed how important this trip was for you. Its so cool you were able to experience your family culture like this. -Katera Perry

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