As an immigrant to the United States I have only one thing that I brought and that is my memories of my country. My landscape of Somalia is from my memory. That was my home. Life there was hard. I left at a young age with a lot of problems and war going on. I did not have a lot of friends there, because I was so young. I didn’t go out of my house. In Somalia there wasn’t school to attend because of the war. I lived with my parents. My father used to work in a market. I remember he never came home without candies or cakes in his hand, and we were always so excited for his arrival. He’s the man walking to the house in my drawing. There is a camel in my landscape; camels play a big part in my culture. We drink camel’s milk and it's so good. I would love to return to Somalia and see the last three little houses in my landscape. One is the place we would go and loudly practice reading the quran; the teachers wouldn’t allow us to go home until we finished our work. You can also see a traditional house called “aqal somali” in my landscape. Usually women make this kind of house. Men collected the wood and the materials that is needed for the house. There is a little mosque at the background. That mosque is where we pray and practice our religion. You can see women washing dishes and animals, like the cat you see in the picture. It can go anywhere. Back in Somalia animals didn’t belong to anyone ---- they were free to go wherever they wanted. I have a lot of memories and one picture of my dad. That’s my landscape and my story.

– LEAP High School Student

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant