Refugee Boy

by Benjamin Zephaniah

  This is not The End

  Refugee Writes

  Dear Mother,

  I keep shedding tears,

  Even in these my tender years

  I don’t have dreams

  I have nightmares,

  Dear Mother how I cry.

  Dear Father,

  How I really wish

  That you could watch me learn English,

  Each thought of you I now cherish,

  How often can we die?

  Dear Africa,

  You must unite

  And let your unity ignite

  And then your people will shine bright,

  Your greatness must be known.

  Dear Britain,

  I’ve found refuge here,

  But all of us came from somewhere

  And I can’t simply disappear,

  Compassion must be shown.

  The Refugee Council offers practical help and support to refugees and asylum seekers and promotes the rights of refugees in Britain and abroad

  Refugee Council

  3 Bondway

  London SW8 1SJ

  Enquiry Line: 020 7820 3085

  www.refugeecouncil.org.uk

  Small Island Read 2007

  Benjamin Zephaniah’s thought provoking and topical book Refugee Boy is being used as part of Small Island Read 2007.

  This project brings together the Aye Write! Glasgow book festival, Hull Libraries, Liverpool Reads and the Bristol and South West Great Reading Adventures to form Britain’s biggest ever community-based reading initiative in which everyone is encouraged to read the same book at the same time.

  Small Island Read 2007 is linked to the 2007 commemorations of the 200th anniversary of the passing of the Slave Trade Abolition Bill – a year that is being used to explore the legacy of slavery and its continuing impact upon modern Britain.

  The main book being used in the project is Andrea Levy’s Small Island, an award-winning novel that describes the arrival in post-war Britain of black Jamaican immigrants, the descendants of enslaved Africans. Younger readers are being encouraged to read Refugee Boy because of its insight into the problems faced by aslyum seekers as well as its celebration of the diversity of Britain.

  The Small Island Read 2007 website at www.smallislandread.com provides extensive background information on the themes of slavery and migration as well as a downloadable activity pack linked to Refugee Boy.

  The project is funded by: Arts & Business, Arts Council England, Aye Write!, Bank of Scotland, Bristol City Council, Business West, Heritage Lottery Fund, Liverpool Culture Company, Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

  If you have received a free copy of this book, please pass it on without charge so that others may join in this initiative.

  To find out more about Benjamin Zephaniah and his wonderful children’s books, and to download a free reading guide for Refugee Boy, please visit www.bloomsbury.com/benjaminzephaniah.

  First published in Great Britain 2001

  Copyright © Benjamin Zephaniah

  This electronic edition published 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  The right of Benjamin Zephaniah to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978 1 4088 2540 2

  www.bloomsbury.com/BenjaminZephaniah

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