First of all, we spoke Krio, which is the lingua franca of Sierra Leone. Secondly, we dressed differently from other people and lastly we acted differently from the other kids. We lived in Brooklyn, New York where I attended a public school. The other kids in my class didn't like me because they said I talked and looked funny. I was so sensitive that I would cry silently never exposing how badly the teasing and name-calling I received hurt me.
Kids can be really cruel and also brutally honest.
I really didn't feel I belonged amongst the crowd of students. I started to hide who I really was by pretending to be from someplace else. I lived in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and most of the people that lived there were immigrants from the West Indies. Both my family and the immigrants from the West Indies were considered foreigners but there are negative connotations that go along with being African. Africa is supposed to be where savages reside.