My best friend Mai Ia moved to Michigan from Thailand when she was seven years old. At the time she did not know why she way leaving Thailand, her home, the place she loved. Later she learned it was because her mother had cancer and knew she was dying and wanted her children to have every opportunity in the world. Her father saved up enough money and sent his wife and children over to the United States. He planned on saving up enough money to join them in the near future. The mother died and the father died shortly after still in Thailand, of what Mai Ia calls “a broken heart.” Her older brother raised her and the rest of the four children. The school system placed Mai Ia in second grade. She didn’t know any English. She told me she would squirm in her seat everyday having to go to the bathroom, but not knowing how to ask. Soon she began to learn English and not having any parents or Hmong people around, she began taking on America’s culture. This upset her elders and they basically disowned her and her brothers and sisters. She wanted to preserve her culture, but she didn’t know how. She was never asked to talk about. It was never celebrated. It was silenced and much of it forgotten.
So far I have explored how creative writing can help heal those who are mentally ill, in prison and those suffering from life traumas. Now I want to explore how it can help heal those people like my friend Mai Ia. She was caught in a culture clash and wanted to celebrate both her Native culture and
America’s culture. I believe that creative writing can help us do that.
Botswana recently opened a creative writing program in the secondary schools to teach students the power of writing. The workshops actually taught students how to write more effectively and helped them to work on their creative skills, but in the process they also taught students how to
infuse their history, culture and language into their poems as a way of preserving them.
Not only is this a way for the writer to pay honor and respect to their culture, but it is also a way for other students to learn about and embrace other cultures. This fosters tolerance, understanding and diversity. Mr. Seboni, founder of the program said:
Through poets, we are able to know about traditions, culture and lifestyle of a certain group of people, hence the need to be informed.
This article shows how creative writing can help heal those students caught in a culture clash by allowing them to live in the American culture but still celebrate their native culture. It also helps to heal the wounds made by ignorance by helping to educate others about different cultures and ways of life all while developing good writing skills.
I think a class like this could do wonders for a school. This article reminded me a lot of Linda Christensen’s ideas and critical pedagogy by using reading and writing as a political act. I think a class like this could do wonders for a school divided by racial tension and intolerance. It also gives the students of different cultures a voice. It lets them know that their culture matters and it is worth preserving. I know
Mai Ia would have certainly appreciated such a class.
“Wabo Sent to Unleash Creative Talent.” BOPA Daily News. The Government of
Botswana. 12 March 2007.
