Between Two Worlds — Student Amadou

A time I had to live between two worlds was when I first started elementary school. Being African before I started school, Africans were the only people I been with and spent time with. This includes my family, cousins, and neighbors that were all African and muslim. We all shared a lot of similarities because we grew up on the same culture. When I attended elementary school It was mostly black kids and hispanic kids their who were Christian or Catholic. This was a new world for me because my beliefs and culture was different then there’s and the holidays they celebrated were widely known while mine wasn’t.

I was able to make friends in the school but some kids will try to pick on me and make fun of my race. They would say phrases such as “African booty scratcher”, I don’t know where that came from but they enjoyed themselves saying it. Also the school would emphasize holidays such as Christmas and other Christian holidays by decorating the school and having class parties. I was still able to enjoy my elementary school experience though because I’m very proud of where I come from and no one can take that from me. Even later with more and more school experience by the time I started High School students were showing a lot of love to Africans by then and the school even started to recognize our religious holidays and made accommodation for us during our holidays.