According to “children of war” and “Refugee Children in Canada”
Refugees are everyday people who are forced to flee their homes because they are afraid to stay in their home country. When they flee, they may leave behind family members, friends, a home, a job, and special possessions. Fleeing home and trying to find a new home can make them feel like their lives are being turned inside out. In the novel Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, Ha’s family lives in a country at war. Ha’s mother is raising four children alone in this dangerous country, and it is more and more difficult for her to provide for their needs. When the war brings fear and hardship to the family, Mother decides to take her family and flee their home of South Vietnam. …show more content…
In “Children of War” (Brice 25), all four of the refugee children talk about being separated from one of their parents because of war. Amela’s father went to work one day but never returned home. Later, she learned he had been killed (Brice 26). She says, “Before the war, I really enjoyed life, but after I found out about my father’s death everything seemed so useless. I couldn’t see any future for myself” (Brice 26). In Part One of Inside Out & Back Again, Mother is separated from Father because of the war. In “Missing in Action,” Ha writes, “Father left home on a navy mission on this day nine years ago when I was almost one. He was captured on Route 1 an hour south of the city by moped. That’s all we know” (Lai 12). Mother misses father terribly. In “Birthday Wishes,” Ha writes about how she is hopeful her father will return home soon because Mother is so sad: “Mostly I wish Father would appear in our doorway and make Mother’s lips curl upward, lifting them from a permanent frown of worries” (Lai 31). All around the world and throughout time, wartime has separated families, and brought sadness and worry to parents and