As the years went by I didnt think about how much yell was putting me down until we had moved to Louisiana and then back to Oregon. You call yourself a mother and in your heart you could never do wrong. What kind of a mother would do that to her own daughter? You all would always tell me that I did not belong with you guys well you know youre right I dont belong to none of you. So you know all of you guys were wrong in what you have done. One day I will find my children.
Amy was a ten year old who was kidnapped from a park . Taken across the county line . She was sexually assaulted and beaten. Everyone in the town was looking for her . Until the tragic moment came when they found her in the school yard. This book is meant to help let parents know what could happen to your child in the least of a moment.
Creating a life so beautiful is a miracle. Born loved, wanted, needed, cared for, properly fed, cleaned in the way a child should be birthed into the world. It takes a hell of a woman and a man to be a parent. Anyone can make a baby, and blood doesn't make a family. My story is quite the opposite. To sum it up: born unwanted, used, physically and mentally abused, descerted for dogs, they ate meat I survived on ketchup sandwiches. But I was highly favored by God that my biological grandparents heard of my existence when I was six years old and traveled back and forth from Wichita Falls to Watts, California, where I had a little chance but no chance in California to complete my summary after the ketchup sandwiches. I wore the same dress, same zipped-up red house shoes, not a nickled daily for milk, which was daily taken from me. My hair was long and daily used as a rope to spin me around. If you don't want your child, give it up and just maybe it will have a chance. After my adoption, I went on to college, had a son, moved back to Hollywood to pursue a positive role model, followed my dream, which may not be yours. Okay, just don't dream. Make it come true-whatever it is. We all fall at some point in some fashion. The key is to get up, brush yourself off, keep looking, and going forward. Learn from mistakes. It's called knowledge. I'm not a woman scared of taking chance. I'm a woman who believes in herself and my higher power in God. He's there for you. Use Him and believe in yourself.
When I close my eyes I can see that old house. I walk up to the door hoping hes not there, but when I reach for the knob it opens, there he is pulling me in and locking the door behind me. The trip to his bedroom seems like eternity. I lay there with my eyes and fist closed tight. I can smell the alcohol on his breath. I pray to God for it to be over; when its finally over I walk to the bathroom to clean myself up. It feels like a fire burning between my legs. I run cold water on some tissue to comfort me. I slowly open the door there he is motioning for me to go sit on the couch, when I get to the couch he covers me up with a blanket. I pray that one day this nightmare will end, for twelve years I didnt know what it was like to sleep at night. My brother Trevor would come in my room and keep me up half the night and after school daddy would have sex with me as soon as momma went to work. I walked around in shorts so he could have me whenever he wanted. I couldnt wait for mommas days off; she didnt talk to me but, I could sleep at night without being scared to close my eyes. I dont know why I never told anyone maybe its because then the abuse would become real or maybe I cried and no one heard my cry or was the pain so bad I couldnt cry out loud. I thought about running away but where would I go, we lived forty-five miles from the nearest town, he would have killed me by the time the police arrived. I loved going to school it was the only place I could find safety, for seven hours of my day I could pretend that my life was normal. I always got nervous when three oclock came; the only thing I looked forward to was the long bus ride home. I was the first to be picked up and the last to be dropped off. When the bus turned that corner and came to a complete stop, my heart would pound because behind those doors was my living nightmare.
For Fauziya Kassindja, an idyllic childhood in Togo, West Africa, sheltered from the tribal practices of polygamy and genital mutilation, ended with her beloved father's sudden death. Forced into an arranged marriage at age seventeen, Fauziya was told to prepare for kakia, the ritual also known as female genital mutilation. It is a ritual no woman can refuse. But Fauziya dared to try. This is her story--told in her own words--of fleeing Africa just hours before the ritual kakia was to take place, of seeking asylum in America only to be locked up in U.S. prisons, and of meeting Layli Miller Bashir, a law student who became Fauziya's friend and advocate during her horrifying sixteen months behind bars. Layli enlisted help from Karen Musalo, an expert in refugee law and acting director of the American University International Human Rights Clinic. In addition to devoting her own considerable efforts to the case, Musalo assembled a team to fight with her on Fauziya's behalf. Ultimately, in a landmark decision in immigration history, Fauziya Kassindja was granted asylum on June 13, 1996. Do They Hear You When You Cry is her unforgettable chronicle of triumph.
John grew up in poverty in Limerick, Ireland, in the 1960s. Fatherless, and with a family in chaos, John fell prey to the predatory clutches of a neighbour, setting off a cycle of sexual abuse that eventually led to being sold as a teenage prostitute. Against all odds, John put himself through college and became a lawyer. But there was no escaping his past. One day, a man arrived in desperate need of representation and failed to recognise John as the boy he'd once abused. Now John had a choice to make... Nobody Heard Me Cry is both a devastating expose of a stolen childhood and an unforgettable story of survival. Most of all, it is a heartfelt plea to hear the cries of other children in need.
The Chort, a small Mayan tribe, had been living isolated on the steep, eroded mountainsides of eastern Guatemala for centuries. As the country developed around them, they had become a downtrodden people. With overpopulation and no more land available, they had become a violent people. Fierce fighting often would break out between families to protect their meager resources. Droughts and crop failures were common, diseases and infant mortality were astronomical, and education was not available. Fear from the dark world shaped their culture and permeated their lives with stoicism and despair. They felt their cry for help was silenceduntil God heard their cry. An adventure began when Ray and Virginia Canfield, along with their three young children, responded to Gods call to go. They relocated forty-five Chort families to a jungle village and lived among them, offering agricultural and medical help. Would these people be able to change and adopt new ways to improve their existence? Would they be willing to break away from centuries of traditions that held them hostage to despair and hopelessness? Would this daring relocation project succeed? God began to work in miraculous ways as the Chort opened their hearts to Jesus. While the missionaries poured their lives into helping them improve their physical and material lives, God extended a new hope to His people. And He had even greater plans for the future of His Chort followers.
Winner of the Newbery Medal, this remarkably moving novel has impressed the hearts and minds of millions of readers. Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie's story—Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to the Logan family, even as she learns to draw strength from her own sense of dignity and self-respect. * "[A] vivid story.... Entirely through its own internal development, the novel shows the rich inner rewards of black pride, love, and independence."—Booklist, starred review
