English – Human Library

Today we learnt about a few people’s experiences that they had in the past. The three people that shared their stories in our class were Victoria, Callum and Zoe. They all had completely different stories to share. The first story that was told was Callum’ story ” When the Tsunami hit, I was saved by my armbands “. In this, he told us that he had gone to Indonesia for the Christmas break and since they had not gone to the beach the entire week they were there, they decided to go on Boxing Day ( December 26th). Barely anyone was at the beach that day. Callum and his brother were just playing in the ocean, searching for shells etc, when a huge wave came over him. Since he was only a year old, he wore his armbands to the ocean ( which helped him stay a float). With the help of his parents, and the armbands, he stayed a float. Both of the kids were thrown out of the ocean immediately, while the parents tried to get out before the second wave hit. The kids sat there, on top of a hill with the locals watching over them. Everyone in his family safely got out before the second wave hit. After that, their family has been really protective and safe when they were around the oceans. The next story was Victoria’s story – “Superstitious Woman Saves Lives “. Her story was mainly based upon her great grandmother and how her believing in superstitions saved the lives of people around her. Victoria’s great grandfather was in World War 2 and when he came back from his trip, one of his legs was paralysed. So, her great grandmother gave him some herbs and everyday for a year she would make him put his paralysed foot in boiling hot water and then freezing cold water about ten times a day. The doctors said that within two or three years, his whole body would be paralysed, but her grandmother didn’t think that would be the case. After about a year, her great grandfather’s paralysed leg was no longer paralysed and he lived for 40 more years after that. Thanks to her great grandmother, many of her family members have been able to get cured. Although her great grandmother died a few days before she was born, she is still really close to Victoria, and Victoria still follows her superstitions to this day. The last story is Zoe’s – “As a baby, I was abandoned in a box wrapped in a red blanket, a sign of good luck “. Zoe was born in China. Her parents decided to put her in a cardboard box and wrap her in a red blanket ( meant good luck in China ). She was left outside a governments office / building, but then got sent to the police and finally to the orphanage where she spent a year. She was then adopted on June 6th, 2004. She thinks that she might have been left because of the one child policy in China. She doesn’t feel that connected or connected at all to China, as she has never gone back there since she was born. But, she is really curious about he cultural background and her cultural identity.
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