I Come From A Long Way

by Jeff Mugongo

     I am not like other 19-year-olds. Yeah. People have stories of what they went through in their lives but, for me, to be here right now in college – it’s a miracle.

     The reason I say that is that I never really had much of a childhood. I have only one childhood memory. I had a monkey that I used to play with all the time, first friend I remember having. Had great memories with him; taught me to climb trees.

     But all that went away when our neighbors killed him with a club. He died. It was sad but, oh man, life goes on.

     Back in Africa, I didn’t go to school. I would spend most of the day feeding 41 goats in the middle of the jungle. Over here, parents tell their kids not to go to the store by themselves. My parents, though, would let me go into the jungle with 41 goats as a 9-year-old. Trust me, I was terrified.

     There are possibilities here. In social work school. At Chadron State College.

     So I wrote this poem about where I come from - Rwanda.

I come from a long way, I am talking.

I come from sleeping on the ground to sleeping on soft mattresses.

I come from not eating all day to going to the fridge every ten minutes.

I come from ripped shorts and no shoes to JORDANS, NIKES, PANTS, SHIRTS, and SUITS.

I come from thirty-mile trips to fetch water in big buckets so my family could have water to shower, cook, and drink to a place now where I can walk three or four feet to turn on a faucet.

I come from sharing one chicken leg with five kids to having the whole turkey at Thanksgiving.

I come from a long way, I am talking.

I come from pain

to possibility…

Jeff Mugongo is a sophomore in the social work program at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska. He hopes to one day work with kids in foster care. Eventually, he would like to work with UNICEF. And after that, wherever “life takes me.”