Swapping Stories

25/05/11

Swapping Stories by Anonymous, Sabapathy Balenthiran, Mehideen Mohamet, Rajan Ponnompalam, Saravanamutti Thanigasalam

Sabapathy Balenthiran (Bala) is from Sri Lanka and lives in Glasgow. He is a long-standing member of the Framework for Dialogue group and also attends the Swapping Stories writing group. He had help in writing this piece from an interpreter and Sue Reid Sexton

Originally from Sri Lanka, Mehideen Mohamet is a member of the Glasgow West Framework for Dialogue, Swapping Stories writing group. He wrote his piece in Tamil and was helped to put it into English by an interpreter and Sue Reid Sexton

Rajan Ponnompalam is originally from Sri Lanka but has lived here for a number of years. He is a long-standing member of the Framework for Dialogue and has never missed any of the Swapping Stories writing sessions. These poems were written in Tamil and put into English with help from an interpreter and Sue Reid Sexton.

Saravanamutti Thanigasalam wrote his piece in English although his first language is Tamil. He is from Sri Lanka and is a member of the Glasgow West Framework for dialogue Swapping Stories creative writing group facilitated by Sue Reid Sexton.

Escape (author anonymous)

A poor lady was the victim of her husband's violence; he'd always abused and tortured her. She'd had three kids. She couldn't go anywhere for help because she knew that, even though she had three kids, the police were not going to help her. So she never could go for help.
 

Once, when she was abroad in her friend's house, she'd argued with her husband and her husband physically tortured her. She was badly injured. Her friend advised her to go to the police but she was frightened because in her country the police were corrupt. But her friend encouraged her and she had went to the police station and told the police what had been happening to her. She had encouraged herself as well. She wanted to escape from the cruel sick man.
 

Then she was in the asylum system where she had contact with immigration officers and the police. She hadn't had the courage before to face these agencies at all, but she was fighting for herself and her kids who are innocent and it's the right of all kids to live a peaceful life on earth anywhere.

Instructions for Courage by Sabapathy Balenthiran
 
If you are going to the police station you must be determined and you shouldn't hesitate and have fear.
If you are leaving a country and settling in another country, you must go with happiness and eagerness and also with determination
People should see that they look after themselves by not getting diseases and by being healthy. If anything happens to you, you must go immediately to a doctor.
If you are living in another country you must adjust yourself accordingly, such as, you must adhere to their laws and regulations.

Courage by Mehideen Mohamet

A person needs courage when he is going on a journey, especially when he is going alone: he needs courage. Likewise, if he falls sick or gets a disease – he needs courage. If there is some sad news in the family – he needs courage. Otherwise a person who has no courage will become afraid. If a person has courage he will not go back. He not will be drawn.

Two poems about courage by Rajan Ponnompalam

Courage 1
Heart pumping fast,
Mind is slow.
Heart power is for the mind as well.
Slow-working heart,
Everything is fine.
The whole body is helping the heart,
And the heart is helping the whole body.

Courage 2
The mouth is for everything,
sometimes for wrong speech,
different forms of speech.
Sometimes the mouth is for smiling,
Sometimes it's angry.
Wrong words are coming out.
Allow words for smiling in the mouth.

Health, not Wealth by Saravanamutti Thanigasalam

The people all over the world, they shouldn't think a lot and put a lot of stress on their brains. If you think a lot, your blood will boil and the blood in your body will decrease and you will lose courage. One must think a little bit and it will give you relaxation to the brain. If you think positively and also discuss intelligently you will not lose strength in your body. At any stage you should not lose hope. If you lose hope you will lose energy.

Even if the mountain collapses you should not lose hope. You will not lose strength and have any shortcomings in your health. You should think that you will get courage by eating a lot. Even if you eat a little bit of quality food you will have courage in your body.
 

If you have happiness you will never lose courage at any stage. At any stage you should not lose hope. And also you will not lose courage in your body.
Health is more than wealth.

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