The Universal Refugee Experience: Ha From Inside Out And Back Again

In the novel “Inside out & Back Again” written by Thanhha Lai , The main character Ha flees her home due to war. Her and her family were looking for a new home trying to start a new life. Although it wasn’t easy for her to start a new life she had to learn to overcome many challenges. In the novel Ha reveals that her life is related to the refugee life even though it was unexpected. When refugees flee their home, it affects them when they leave and find a new home, it also involves affecting them when their life is turned inside out,and it demonstrates why they relate to the refugee experience.

Families and their traditions can impact on the level of devotion and affection that ties people together, as well as how one reacts to a particular situation that may reinforce or harm his or her relationships. The notion of family belonging is an idea repeated throughout The Happiest Refugee and the analysis of various techniques makes this evident. ‘But my father treated that loss as if it were a win, and it was a lesson that stayed with me for a long time. If the worst happens, but you still celebrate coming second. There is no need to fear failure’ is a quote from page 48 that highlights the level of family belonging through the use of repetition as it is a message that reoccurs throughout the memoir. The sole idea recreated throughout the novel thoroughly

Journeys have a profound impact on the individual, and provocative experiences and new knowledge often cause a re-evaluation of perspectives of both oneself and their surroundings. In The Happiest Refugee, the transformative nature of journeys is explored as Do undergoes a series of inner journeys

Ha’s life as a refugee is a life experience is something that only the strong can go through, and her entire family made it. When refugees flee home, it is because of fear that their family will be torn apart by the war when they leave home, family, friends, memories, basically the perspective of the person is leaving what they desired. Then when they finally do find a home, (not all), they are greeted with new challenges, one of many is that acceptance in their new home, some people probably don’t want to make a living in their new home, “But life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not”. But when people turn “inside out” they feel empty inside and everything is useless, they have to start over from square one and become “back again”. When they become happy again and accept what has happened to them, so they can move forward in life. This book is mostly about a girl with her family who was in a war, so they left of fear of being torn apart by the war because they will be safer than where they are at in the moment, Saigon Vietnam, but are greeted with challenges in the Alamba U.S.A.

As I sat on the back bench of a 12 passenger van with a coffee in my hand and my head on the back of the seat in front of me, I realized I had nothing left to give. All of energy was gone. I had come to the end of myself. We were driving down a bumpy road to an apartment complex filled with new faces from far away countries. As we drove I realized how much we had been doing every day and the weight of the things we had seen started to sink in. The refugees of Clarkson, Georgia had been through so much and I was getting a small glimpse into their lives during this week. However, it was Thursday afternoon and I was tired. We had been helping kids in the school all morning, then explored and ate at an international market, and my stomach was starting to turn from the ethnic food we had eaten. As we drove along and our leader described the after school program we would be working with I realized how physically exhausted I was. I began to pray for strength from God, and I told him that anything that

The start of the Atlantic National refugee is the start of all the findings in the areas of mountains and where the animals of the towns come into the picture and play a huge role in their culture. The villagers become a huge part in the agriculture and where it falls in their background. Carter deftly employs personal anecdote, statistics/data, and word choice to sway his readers.

Refugee’s lives turn “inside out” by separation, no choices, and traveling. Lives are turned inside out by no choice in what they want. In the article, “Refugees: Who, Where, Why?” it says, “Since early times large groups of people have been forced to flee their homelands.” Overall this tells me even if they wanted to stay with all of the chaos going on they couldn’t. Separation also turns lives inside out. I know this because in the poem “Watch over us page 50,” it says,” father watches over us even if he’s not here…Uncle son tells us to be ready any day.” This explains that with father not being there, hopes can be down and they can struggle more. Traveling for Ha also turns them inside out. In the poem, “Last Respects.” Page 85 it says,”

Many refugees share common experiences. These are called, universal refugee experiences. Two of these experiences are fleeing, and finding and home. This relates to Ha, the main character of Inside Out And Back Again,by Thanhha Lai,who also goes through these universal experiences of finding a home,In fact the title of this book also relates to these experiences, and their life in general.

This example, although only one of many, shows what the struggles of war can do to a person. Whether it be through the loss of family or home, refugees run the risk of losing themselves in the thick fog of confusion and struggles as they deal with war and fleeing their homes. However, war is not the only factor that can cause refugees to lose themselves. Even once they find home, they struggle to find themselves in the overwhelming tide of a new culture and people. “Both refugee and immigrant children may encounter society’s discrimination and racism, and both have to

The title of the novel Inside Out & Back Again relates to the main character’s, Ha’s experiences, and the universal refugee experience; they feel

Today there are 14 million people that, like Ha, are refugees. Some hope that they can go back to their country when times are better, but others stay and start a new life. Sadly, some are unable to go back to their old homes. The novel’s title, “Inside Out and Back Again”, has a specific meaning. “Inside Out” means that Ha’s life will turn inside out.

Ha, from Inside Out and Back Again is a specific example of the universal refugee experience, because while her and her families experience was different to any other refugees, she is still a person who fled her country in a time of immense danger. Ha, Mother, and her brothers turned inside out and back again by struggling to get on their feet in America and leaving Vietnam, but eventually did, much like other refugees do leaving their countries. Ha was a rebellious and stubborn girl when she lived in Vietnam. Ha was told that one of her brothers had to rise first on Tet to bless the house. “I decided to wake before dawn and tap my big toe to the tile floor first.”

As a volunteer at the RefugeeOne, organization, I have learned about how does the nonprofit organization brands itself, and how do they receive funding. RefugeeOne not only is incorporated as an independent nonprofit organization, but also it is a refugee resettlement agency that provides a full range of services to refugees resettled in the Chicago area.

The organization that best supports the millions of Syrian refugees left destitute by the Syrian civil war is RefugeeOne, an organization made to respond to humanitarian crises across the globe. Founded in 1982 as a non-profit resettlement agency in Chicago, the organization has helped displaced people of the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides, victims of the Iranian revolution, and now Syrian refugees fleeing from the civil war (RefugeeOne). 80% of the staff, including Melineh Kano, the executive director of the organization, know all too well what the refugees are facing, as they were once refugees themselves (Campbell). Because of the personal experience that they possess, they are further able to understand the refugee’s needs, and can therefore

Becoming a refugee is probably one of the hardest thing someone could ever experience. You have to leave everything behind, and restart a whole new chapter. As you flee to another country, you have to learn new languages, new cultures, religions and more. You will have to face many new challenges, and experience a whole new world.