REV. TOM SIMBO’S DAUGHTER STEALS THE SHOW AT CHERRY CREEK HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION
Juliet Mamie Simbo , the daughter of gospel preacher, Rev. Thomas Simbo of Colorado, made daddy, mummy , family , friends and Sierra Leoneans proud when she delivered a blockbuster, admirable and well-applauded graduation speech at the Commencement program of the Cherry Creek High school, Englewood, Colorado, on May 25, 2007 . . There was a literal standing ovation from the jammed crowd and since then the telephones at the Simbo residence have been ringing off the hook as people have been calling for copies of the speech. COCORIOKO hereby produces the speech for the consumption of the whole world , to prove yet again that good things do come out of Sierra Leone. READ THE SPEECH Web site designed & hosted by leeroy kanu © 2006 at Homestead™
Juliet Mamie Simbo , the daughter of gospel preacher, Rev. Thomas Simbo of Colorado, made daddy, mummy , family , friends and Sierra Leoneans proud when she delivered a blockbuster, admirable and well-applauded graduation speech at the Commencement program of the Cherry Creek High school, Englewood, Colorado, on May 25, 2007 . . There was a literal standing ovation from the jammed crowd and since then the telephones at the Simbo residence have been ringing off the hook as people have been calling for copies of the speech. COCORIOKO hereby produces the speech for the consumption of the whole world , to prove yet again that good things do come out of Sierra Leone. READ THE SPEECH Web site designed & hosted by leeroy kanu © 2006 at Homestead™
2007 Graduation Speech “BEYOND OUR WALLS”
By- Juliet Mamie Simbo
Good morning na mi name Juliet Simbo and A proud fo be memba na Cheri Krik Ai Skul graduating klass of 2007.
The greeting I just spoke was in Krio, the lingua franca of my country, Sierra Leone. In English, it simply means, I am proud to be a member of the graduating class of 2007. I am also proud to be a native of Sierra Leone. Living in America, I think of myself not as African American, but as an America African. And today I would like to talk to you about my journey from Africa to America.
I am but one fish in a sea of many and talking about my experience seemed like an unworthy strategy. After all, a graduation speech should convey a message to my fellow graduates about how they should embrace the unique and unfettered chance we all have to go into the world and make a difference. But how can one really do such a thing with just words? Can words alone spur people to adopt a higher cause than simple self-indulgence and material comfort? Great individuals such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King JR., and Nelson Mandela certainly have shown us that words do matter and do cause change. It is in this spirit that I humbly tell you about my journey and my time here at Cherry Creek. I hope that my words will cause my fellow graduates and members of this audience to pause and reflect on what a wonderful land this is and how we should all look beyond ourselves in reaching out to others beyond our walls.
If you have seen the movie “Blood Diamond,” you witnessed a realistic portrayal of the horrors of civil war in Sierra Leone. I lived in this world. I witnessed my dad held at gun- point in our porch on January 10 1999, by a rebel who told us he was going to kill my father and suck his blood because of his vocal opposition against the atrocities being committed. The gunman however spared my father’s life but in turn, shot and killed our family dog. Because of greed and hatred amongst the people of my country, death came to many in Sierra Leone for seemingly no reason. Knowing that the slimmest of margins kept me alive, changed my life forever.
A few months later my family was granted visa so my dad could pursue a graduate degree at Denver Seminary thanks to Mission Hills Baptist church. It was sad to leave family, friends and the land of my birth despite the difficulties of living in war-torn Sierra Leone. But I resolved to persevere. It was exciting however to come to America a land one imagined flowed with “milk and honey and streets paved with gold.” What an opportunity it would be to sample such wonder and luxury.
When I arrived in Denver, fantasy had to give way to reality. The streets certainly weren’t gold in color. And the people lacked color as well. I saw more white people in one hour than I had seen in my entire life! I also found the general attitude of Americans to be cold and more independent. I felt lost and lonely as I tried to merge into the fast-lane that is the American life style. In my classes and in the hallways at Creek, I struggled to understand the cultural and behavioral norms. In Sierra Leone, students were required to sit still and never to look in the eyes of the teachers. Failure to do so was disrespectful and punished by whipping. At CCHS, some of my teachers chastised me for not looking at them when they talked. The more they reprimanded me for looking down, the more I looked down to try to be respectful. It was the wrong thing to do, I learned, but breaking old habits can be hard at first
The weather didn’t help either. Seeing your own breath for the first time makes you panicky that you’ve suddenly developed a deadly lung disease. Although I’d seen snow in pictures before, I can now say that I definitely gotten up close and personal with more snow that I could ever have dreamed of, especially this year’s blizzard. Talk about needing a wardrobe change! Fortunately, one of the things I have learned at Creek is to be a power shopper.
In time, though, I began to see positives. One of which was junk food! In Sierra Leone, rice is the main ingredient in almost every meal. At McDonald’s, they don’t even serve rice! In fact Americans often go days on end without eating a home cooked meal. It is just too easy to stop off and grab something.
At school, I learned to track down teachers and ask questions. I began to understand why my classmates were so assertive towards teachers, and I started coming out of my own shyness. I learned to form study groups and balance the freedoms of a social life with academic obligations. I quickly moved from English Learning classes to higher level classes. Most importantly, my four years experience in a special class called AVID (Advance Via Individual Determination) helped me find adults and friends who truly supported me. The culmination of my Creek experience is my acceptance to the University of Northern Colorado. I hope to take my experience and education back to Sierra Leone someday and work with children, hopefully as a medical doctor. I would like to be able to paint a picture for them of a larger world I have seen and help them to have hope and to build dreams like mine that can come true.
In the end, I treasure the experience I have had in America. They blend with my experience in Sierra Leone to make me a wiser, more accepting, more humble, and a more educated person. I have seen the good and bad of both cultures and know that life is not all about me. Life is about what each of us can do for others because there are a lot of “others” suffering in the world. So my fellow graduates, as you leave this place, if you wish to rise to your full potential as a producer of good, I say to you, open your eyes to the world beyond this stadium, beyond this city, beyond this state and beyond this country. Feel the presence of humanity around the world and learn about them, even experience their cultures. I hope that someday you can be as grateful as I am for what you know about a different land and people. Tenki fo we una leh A be pat of una wol en I welkom una fo visit me yon. I thank you for letting me be a part of your world and I welcome you to visit mine.
Bio:Juliet is a Sierra Leonean immigrant who lived with her parents in Wellington (Eastern Freetown) Sierra Leone during the 1999 massacre of thousand of Sierra Leoneans by RUF rebels. The Family (Mom, Dad and 3 sisters) has been living in Denver Colorado since August 2002. They are members of Mission Hill Church where his dad teaches Adult Sunday School. Juliet will be a freshman at the University of Northern Colorado this fall. She delivered this speech on May 25, 2007 at the Cherry Creek High School Sports Arena (Englewood, CO) as a Graduate among 840 others.
