Stella

Hello. My name is Zarifa. I'm 15. I live in South Sudan in a village called Malakal, living with 3 sisters and 2 brothers named William who is 9, Sky who is 4, Bee who is 2, Annie who is 8, Amaya who is also 8, and then me, the oldest. Annie and Amaya are twins. Amaya is 5 minutes younger. My mom died giving birth to my youngest sibling, Bee. My dad is forty-five years old. My family is poor. My dad wants us to get education. So he spends most of our money to pay for school. In order to get enough money to pay for future school bills, I have to go into the middle of the village and beg for any spare money. Sometimes I'm lucky, and sometimes I'm not.

In the morning, I am the first to wake up. I wake up at 6:15 to get breakfast ready. In town when I beg for money, I worry that I won't be able to tell my dad that I got money from begging. Breakfast is the only meal of the day. We are so poor that we can't afford lunch or dinner. Breakfast is rice and stew. Then once breakfast is ready, I wake up my dad so that he can get the food onto small plates. While he is doing that, I go and wake up my siblings. Once we all come back to the table, my dad is ready to give us our plates of food. I try to eat my breakfast slowly so that it can last. But then, eventually, my dad rushes me to get to school. I meet my siblings out side of our house. We walk 2 miles to school. There are 125 kids in my class. We all crowd around one big and fat oak tree. For a board, my teacher hangs up a chalkboard.

For children who are ages 10 and up, they can go home to eat lunch since everyone fights about where they want to sit to eat. So I go home, and spend time with dad since we want to save the food that we can eat for tomorrow's breakfast. I help my dad clean the house for about an hour, then I have to go back to school. Once I get back to school, I get a piece of paper from the teacher like everyone else, and then find my friends, and sit down next to them.

We get one more lesson after lunch. After that lesson, I find all of my siblings, and then we head back home. Since Bee loves nature, I need to keep my eye on him because he could find something interesting and then wander of and find himself in danger. Once we get home, we head into our rooms to do our studies. Dad only checks my homework because what I learn is a bit hard. Then, I say goodbye to my siblings, and head to the middle of town to beg for money. Sometimes I run into my friends along the way. It feels nice to be able to sometimes see my friends and talk to them, because I barley get time to. Once I find my usual spot to beg for money, I hope I don't see my friends because it embarrasses me. My friends don't have to beg. I worry that gunmen will come to Malakal and kidnap me.

If I have money to buy things for breakfast, I go to the local tiny market to buy the ingredients that are needed for breakfast. If I don't have any money, I just go home,
ready to share my bad news. The local market is just a bunch of people selling their goods under a tent. They have a tent to shield them and the shoppers from the sun.

8:01 is my bedtime. First, I put Bee to bed and tell him a story to help him go to sleep. Then, Sky doesn't need a story to go to bed, she's too tired. Then, I go to bed because Amaya, Annie, and William can put themselves to bed. Me, Sky, and Bee share a room. Annie, Amaya, and William share a room. Then, dad has his own room.

I hope that some day everything will be peaceful and better for South Sudan. I hope that people won't be poor. I hope that people won't be scared of war or violence. We need to work together for that to happen.