Refugee Boy

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Chapter 6: Now at breakfast Mustafa offers Alem more advice. Alem later gets into a fight with Sweeney. The whole story centers around the 14-year-old Alem Kelo. He is a boy born of an Ethiopian father and an Eritrean mother at a time when the two countries were at war with each other. His father takes him to London to be safe. There he has to fight for his status as a refugee. Alem and his father had to leave Ethiopia or die, so Alem's father (Mr Kelo) decides to leave Alem in England until there is peace. Alem is a refugee from Ethiopia. His parents are both Eritrean and Ethiopian. Alem then escapes to England from a violent civil war in Badme, which at the time of the novel (2000/1999), was disputed to be either in Ethiopia or in Eritrea. In 1991, 14-year-old Alem and his father are in the capital of Eritrea, his mother's home country. When Alem is ten years old, he and his family move to Harar in Ethiopia, his father's country. In Ethiopia, his father gets a better job within the postal service, but Alem's mother loses her job because the Ethiopian workers say they are "at war with Eritrea, so they will not work with someone from Eritrea." Alem's father is then told by his co-workers that he must leave his wife because she is Eritrean and therefore "the enemy". The mother was held at point blank before pushed on the bus.

Chapter 4: Alem exits the hotel with Mariam and Pamela, he is taken to their office where they fill in his application form for asylum. They have arranged for him to stay at a children’s home. Alem meets his room partner called Stanley Burton who is orphan and depress in his arrival Stanley tells Alem his own story of why he's at the children's home. Refugee Boy is a teen novel written by Benjamin Zephaniah. It is a book about Alem Kelo, a 14-year-old refugee from Ethiopia and Eritrea. It was first published by Bloomsbury on 28 August 2001 Refugee Boy' is, as you'd expect, a story that doesn't leave the reader indifferent, as we live in a world where millions of people are seeking asylum and refugee elsewhere especially in Europe, especially in the UK as this book shows. Although Alem is heartbroken and everything about English culture is very confusing, he tries to see the positives of living in a cold, alien environment far from his home and family.It’s just a normal trip to London – isn’t it? Alem is seriously excited. He’s never been out of Ethiopia before. It’s his first foreign holiday! He and his dad have a great few days together – until Alem wakes up in their B&B one morning to find his dad gone. At first Alem is stumped. But then the hotel owner hands him a letter from his dad: a letter that explains the unthinkable. Because of Ethopia’s political problems, he and Alem’s mother felt it would be safer to take Alem to Britain and leave him there. Now Alem is on his own – in the hands of social services and the Refugee Council. What kind of future awaits this refugee boy? In the article entitled "A Postcolonial Approach to Contemporary RefugeeLiterature: Benjamin Zephaniah’s Refugee Boy", Sercan Hamza Bağlama points out that the novel "fictionalises the refugee experience in a ‘strange’ land and exposes the traumatic effects of war and politics upon innocent people through its 14-year-old Eritrean-Ethiopian protagonist, Alem Kelo, who has fled the war and ended up as a refugee in the UK" [2] and that the novel can therefore be categorised as an example of contemporary refugee literature.

Chapter 8: Alem meets Mr and Mrs Fitzgerald and their daughter Ruth and decides he would like to stay with them. He spends a couple of weeks settling in then requests if he can go to school. Chapter 12: Alem goes on a bike ride in the local area. He heads to court for his appeal hearing and meets Nicholas Morgan (his barrister). The hearing is adjourned until February to allow time for further reports to be prepared. Alem thought it was wonderful." I really wanted to read that part of the book to you, because this story is about acceptance, for Alem to be accepted as part of Britain but in that particular section, Alem gets accepted by his foster sister, Ruth. And from that moment onwards, their relationship does blossom. So this book might seem like a serious read And he is the enemy.' Then he turned and pointed the rifle at Alem's forehead. 'And he is a mongrel." Chapter 11: Alem is informed of the date of his appeal hearing. It will be early in the New Year. He continues to work hard at school the rest of the term. He spends his Christmas money on a bike.here where I am, in Manor Park in East London. And these are the streets that Alem walks, taking it one day at a time. Never forgetting everything he has left behind. Alem missed seeing animals that weren't just pets. He missed the sounds of home, he missed the smell of its earth, the smell of its people and even the smell of its cities. How important is it to understand and empathise with the experiences of people from different cultures? Refugee Boy was Benjamin Zephaniah's fifth book. It won the 2002 Portsmouth Book Award in the Longer Novel category. According to the opening to the book, the reason Zephaniah wrote the book is because he heard lots of different refugee stories and he combined the stories to create the book. This line sums up the book, the message of ‘this is not the end’ is a aphorism we can certainly carry into all the we do. No matter how hard Alem found it it was the the end till it was the end. but I assure you it's not. It's full of humour, and the roller-coaster ride that you go on with Alem. It's definitely, definitely one to read.

How can we, as individuals and communities, support and create a welcoming environment for refugees? This chapter sounds different than other chapter of the novel because its sound more dramatic, helpless, angry and showing his strength. The other sound was informative, balance and controlled. He shows responsibility, development of his knowledge by dealing with problematic situation and trying to adjust in a new environment. This chapter seems so realistic. It is a simple chapter to read because it has a good solid plot and structure of the book makes it easier to understand roles of each character.Absolutely incredible story - I was stunned to find out at the end that it was fictional! I honestly thought this was a true story. Man. Chapter 1: Alem and his father Mr Kelo, travel to Heathrow and go to a hotel in the village of Datchet ( close to Reading). They spend the following day sightseeing in London. So Alem is excited to spend a holiday in London with his father – until he wakes up to find him gone. What seems like a betrayal is in fact an act of love, but now Alem is alone in a strange country, and he must forge his own path... The author took ideas from many writers and books, which are related to refugees to make this book unique and special to the readers. He attempt to influence the readers with a combination of layout, emotions are raised, and guilt is created to feel sorry for Alem and it shows how to be strong when people have to deal with problematic situation that they face while they are living in a children's home. In any case, do read this book if you can, and if you have the chance support refugee-helping organizations such as the Refugee Council and others alike in your countries, and fight the populistic narratives that dehumanize people seeking refuge in another country, especially if fleeing war and conflict zones, or any sort of unfair prosecution. Just remember: today around 40% of the world’s displaced are children like Alem. And Interestingly enough, Ethiopia shelters the largest number anywhere in the world of unaccompanied and separated children.

Create a Personal Diary: Step into Alem's shoes and record a series of diary entries recounting a week in his life as a young refugee in London. Share your thoughts, feelings, challenges and moments of hope he has. So, if that kind of thing bothers you, read the book. But do read the book. It might be for young people, but it's powerful enough to speak to us all. On his own, and in the hands of the social services and the Refugee Council, Alem lives from letter to letter, waiting to hear something from his father. Then he meets car-obsessed Mustapha, the lovely 'out-of-your-league' Ruth and dangerous Sweeney – three unexpected allies who spur him on in his fight to be seen as more than just the Refugee Boy. Stanley was a kid at the care home he shared a room with Alem; Stanley always talked when he was asleep about his mum and his family was separated. Told from the point of view of teenager Alem Kelo, born out of Eritrea and Ethiopia and unfairly punished for it amidst the conflicts between the two countries, we are given a perspective of what the life of an asylum seeker might look like. This is special, this is important to bring awareness to. Despite the tragedies, I found this story uplifting because Alem, although losing his roots in the UK to the care of excellent people, and brought to a life of education and good friends. I'm not sure, however, how many young unaccompanied and separated children refugees, and asylum seekers have such support in their daunting journeys toward safety and acceptance.Although the language in this novel is simple and the plot basic, the underlying themes and ideas that Zephaniah teaches us through it are much deeper. So much about the characters is revealed in the way they interact, so much of the real plot emerges subtly. There’s a political side to it too. People who think refugees are job stealing and worthless people should read this book and understand they have been through so much and deserve refuge and a fresh start in life. If you were in their shoes, you would want that wouldn’t you? When refugees come to the UK they want to make something of themselves; Alem wants to become an architect.