Assignment 9: Human Trafficking

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-12/09/content_7287465.htm

This article is about the accomplishment of Combodia that arrested 50% more human traffickers. There were 75 cases brought to court, and 107 traffickers arrested and sentenced to prison for 10 to 28 years. Even though some were celebrating because of such big numbers, others were worrying about more needs to be done to stop the human trafficking. 

Assignment 8

As I was watching the video, I was curious about how Hitler took over Germany. Well I found out that he had seduced the Germans by creating jobs, making a vibrant economy restoring Germany's Military might, and things that made others happy. 

Another thing that made me think about was that if the Holocaust could happen again. Well, we have much technology and security nowadays. So I think that if the Holocaust tried to happen again, it wouldn't be able to succeed. But then again, you could never underestimate what governments are capable of doing.

Assignment 7: Ch.6-9

Ch. 6

1. The SS would shoot them like if they were filthy dogs.

2. He was starting to get terrible stomach cramps, and he fell to the ground. He got stepped on by the rest of the men who were running.

3. Rabbi's son wanted to get rid of his father to save his own life, and he did. Elie hoped he would never do that to his father.

4. He played a Beethoven song until he died.

5. He had the people spread around to get the Nazis confused so he could get his father.

Ch. 7

1. He slapped him and kept hitting him so that he would wake up and the others wouldn't throw him out with the rest of the dead bodies. 

2. People outside the train were throwing bread to see what the Jews would do. A father had gotten a piece of bread for him and another for his son. When the son saw the bread he began attacking him without realizing it was his own father. The father was yelling at him trying to make him understand but he was too much into eating a piece of bread. He ended up killing his own father just for a piece of bread.

3. Out of 100 only 12 got out. They had arrived in Buchenwald.

Ch. 8

1. Elie had always depend on his father for mostly everything. When his father got sick, he depended on Elie.

2. The men who were in the same bunk, were tired of the father's moaning at night.

3. He started thinking about taking it into consideration, but he started feeling guilty about it and continued to bring his father his ration of soup and bread. 

Ch. 9

1. Hitler was about to keep his promise, and the camp was about to be liquidated.  

2. Armed men had appeared everywhere. They took charge of the camp, and the SS had fled.

3. They had thrown themselves into the provisions for food, the young men wanted to sleep with girls, but none of them wanted revenge.

4. He had seen a corpse contemplating back at him. He looked more like a dead person than the person he had last seen in the ghetto.

Assignment 6: Ch. 4 & 5 Questions

Chapter 4

1. What were the objectives of the medical examinations?
- They were in search for any gold teeth.

2. Why were the Jewish musicians not allowed to play Beethoven?
- Beethoven music is German.

3. Describe one of Idek's bouts of madness.
- When he was mad, he would get his anger out on which ever person was closer to him by beating them severely.

4. How did Elie initially avoid losing his gold crown?
- He kept telling them he didn't feel good and that he was getting sick.

5. Who did Elie meet on the Paris metro?
- The French Woman who had worked with him in the warehouse.

6. What happened when Elie refused to give his crown to Franek? What was the end result?
- Franek tormented Elie's father because he didn't know how to march, and he would beat him up real bad. Elie ended up giving Franek his crown.

7. Describe the scene at the soup cauldrons.
- The Jews had been placed in a room where big pots of hot soup were sitting there. There was a man who was going to drink from it, and everybody was looking at him with jealousy. When the bombing began, he died out of no where.

8. During the preliminary ceremonies before hanging, what did Juliek whisper to Elie? What does this suggest?
- " This ceremony, will it be over soon? I'm hungry..." They weren't getting fed enough.

9. During one hanging, Elie and the other prisoners cried. What made this hanging different from the others?
- The fact that a boy was getting hung in front of their eyes made it really devastating for them, even though they had seen many hangings before.


Ch. 5


1. Why didn't Elie fast on Yom Kippur?
- He no longer believed in God's silence. Also, his father had forbidden him from doing it.


2. What advice was given to Elie to pass the selection?
- They had told him to run as fast as he could so that they wouldn't be able to see his number.


3. How did Elie's father respond when he had learned that his name had been written down?
- He started giving Elie his valuable possessions since he had felt that his time was running short.


4. What did Akiba Drummer ask for others to do for him? Did they do it?
- He had asked them to gather 10 men and say Kaddish. They never did it.


5. Why was Elie placed in the hospital?
- He had to get in operation on his foot.


6. Why was the camp evacuated? What did Elie learn of the fate of those who stayed behind in the hospital?
- The Russians were on their way to the camp. They had gotten liberated after 2 days of the evacuation.

Assignment 5: Holocaust Timeline Summary

From 1918-1945, the Nazi party grew from a small political group, to the most powerful and evil group in Germany. After Hitler became Chancellor, he changed the whole government, and put the Jews in ghettos. His plan was to kill the entire population of the Jews so he put them in concentration camps and sabotaged them for a long time. When World War II ended, the Nazis were punished for all their crimes.

Assignment 4: Ch. 2 & 3

Ch. 2- pg. 23-28
1. Explain, "Our eyes were open, but too late." Where was the train at this point?
- They realized Moishe was right, but it was already too late to go back. The train was already at Aushwitz.

2. What was foreshadowed by Madame Schacter's nightmare?
- She had visioned the flames from the crematories.

3. What did some of the passengers do to quiet Madame Schacter?
- She had received several blows on her head to quiet her down.

4. Where did the train finally stop?
- The train stopped at Birkenau.

Ch. 3- pg. 29-46
1. When questioned by the S.S officer, why did Elie lie about his age and occupation?
- He was scared of what he was supposed to say, and wasn't sure what if he was supposed to lie or not.

2. What was the first horrifying sight that Elie at first disbelieved?
- He had seen the pit of flames with the burning babies that Moishe had told him about.

3. Explain what Elie meant when he said, " Never shall I forget these flames which consumed my faith forever."
- Those flames were something that ripped his heart apart.

4. How did Elie change in a short time?
- He felt lots of anger to God, and he lost all his faith.

5. What was Elie's first impression of Aushwitz after leaving Birkenau?
- They actually treated them a lot nicer than they did in Birkenau. He had also felt relieved.

6. What was the "compulsory formality" at the entrance to all camps?
- They were showered with hot water and gasoline.

7. What sort of identification was used on the prisoners?
- They were coded with numbers, and were tattooed on their left arms. His code was A-7713.

8. Why was the prisoner in charge of Elie's block removed from his position?
- The Germans said he was being too nice to them.

9. What were the prisoner's rations at each meal?
- For breakfast they would have black coffee, for lunch they would have soup, and for dinner they would have bread with margarine.

10. What was Bela Katz forced to do once he was chosen for his strength?
- He had been forced to place his own father's body in the furnace.

Assignment 3: Ch. 1 Night Questions

1. Who is Moishe/ Moche the Beadle? Describe him.

- Moishe the Beadle was the one who did all the maintenance in the Jewish church. He was a really poor man who would always make people smile.

2. Why did Elizer cry when he prayed?

- He didn't know why he would cry. Every time he would pray, he felt he needed to cry.

3. When Moishe returned what did he tell?

- He had warned everybody in the town that the Germans were going to go after them, and everything he had seen when he was taken away.

4. Why didn't people believe him?

- People thought he was doing it to grab attention, and for people to have pity on him.

5. List the ways the Jewish people of Sighet lost their rights.

- The Jews couldn't be out on the streets after 6.

- Every Jew had to wear a yellow star.

- They weren't allowed to own any gold, or fine jewelery.

- They were forced to live in the ghetto.

- They arrested all the leaders of the Jewish community

- Soldiers were allowed to go inside their homes.

6. What is a ghetto?

- A ghetto is a neighborhood of only one type of race.

7. Why did citizens resist the truth, even when it was in front of them?

- They wouldn't believe Hitler was going to be able to annihilate all of the Jews.

8. Describe the conditions in the train.

- There was 80 people jammed in one car. The windows had bars so they wouldn't escape. They only had water and bread as their meal. The one who was in charge of the car would be killed if one person was missing. They really didn't have any air to breathe.

Assignment 2: Cattle Car Complex

Adam Posner, a Jewish lawyer, was leaving work after working late. When he got on the elevator, it had gotten stuck. Adam began to panic since he remembered that he was claustrophobic, and that he was afraid of the dark. He kept pressing every button trying to get it unstuck, and he also pressed the emergency button many times. Since he was in there for a long time, he was starting to think he was stuck in a cattle car on is way to a Concentration camp. When they had finally answered back he kept saying many things about the Holocaust. They finally got him help and got him out of the elevator.

Even though some Jewish people didn't live during the Holocaust era, they could still feel the pain from the ones that did. They were probably told many stories from actual survivors, and they were able to picture everything in their minds. They're ancestors could have been victims of the Nazis.  

(2nd 9 wks.) Assignment 1

During the Holocaust era, the Nazis killed about 6 million Jews, about 200,000 Roman Gypsies, and at least 200,000 disabled patients. They also persecuted several political groups, ideological groups, Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals. Hitler was the one who had been responsible for World War II and for the Holocausts. He was a very cruel man who simply hated the Jews for Religious reasons, like it was they were the ones who had killed Jesus Christ for example. This is something I am really glad it isn't happening right now.

Assignment 10

I really like using this blog as a way of doing assignments. I think it's way better than being in class having to do more assignments that have to be written, or stuff like that. I don't really think there's anything to make it better. I think the way you are doing it, is perfect.

Assignment 8

LAKSHMI

To me, Lakshmi is a strong girl for what she has gone through. She is a poor girl who was forced into prostitution by her stepfather. The family thought she would be working as a maid in the city, but only the stepfather knew the real truth. I see her as a young, and innocent girl who falls for most tricks. At first, she was made to believe many lies, and at the end, she ends up not believing the truth. She is the type of person who has a lot of hope for her and her family. She is always looking for ways to help her family out, unlike her stepfather...

Still Here

by

Langston Hughes

I been scared and battered.

My hopes the wind done scattered.

Snow has friz me,

Sun has baked me,

Looks like between 'em they done

Tried to make me

Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'--

But I don't care!

I'm still here!

This poem reminds me so much of Lakshmi. This poem is talking about his hopes going away, and things trying to stop him from many things. This poem describes how Lakshmi feels for some reason. Just the way Lakshmi had rough times, and her hopes went away, she still stayed strong. It seems like this poem was made just for her..

Assignment 7

Just looking at those pictures, I could already feel their pain. If that's just parts of it, can you imagine how the rest is?? I would hate having to live in a place like that, and having to do their dirty jobs. Some of those pictures I saw were pretty scary. It's really sad knowing there's places like that in this world.

Assignment 6

They have a mission to change the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in a positive way. Their vision is to have a society where every child and young person have support to realise their potential.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/

Assignment 1

About Me

My name is Karen, and I am in 8th grade. I tempt to be a perfectionist, and I like doing my jobs neatly. I love playing sports, but I'm not the best athlete. I enjoy listening to music and hanging out with my friends. I have many goals in life, which I'm aiming to succeed at. Sometimes, I get distracted real easily, and I'm still working on breaking that habit. There is so much I could say about myself, but that's all I could think about right now.

Assignment 5

Lakshmi's Time Line

• Lakshmi lives poorly in a village in Nepal.
• She begins her menstrual cycle, and her mom tells her everything she needs to know.
• Her family began to suffer because there was no rain, and they needed money. Ama had to sell her earrings to help out her family a little bit.
• Since the stepfather would spend all his money gambling instead of helping out the family, he sold Lakshmi to Auntie Bimla, who works for a brothel.
• Lakshmi and the rest of the family thought she was going to the city to work as a maid, but they didn't know the real truth.
• After traveling for a while with Auntie Bimla, Lakshmi was given to Uncle Husband, which was going to cross her across the border.
• When Lakshmi arrived to the Happiness House, she got locked in a room where she was going to work with the men, and Habib had been her first one.
• She met Monica, Shahanna, Anita, Pushpa, Shilpa, and other people that lived in the Happiness House. She became close friends with the David Beckham Boy (Harish) who taught her how to read and speak in English.
• She suffered many punishments from Mumtaz, and began to get close to the other girls.
• Lakshmi met an American who was going to help her leave the brothel, and gave her his card.
• After a year of living as a prostitute, Lakshmi began to notice that she was one of the girls who had been in the Happiness House the longest.
• When the street boy was giving his last goodbyes, Lakshmi gave him the white card the American had given her, and whispered something in his ear.
• The street boy completed his mission that Lakshmi had given him.
• Lakshmi finally got help, and was finally able to leave the Happiness House.

Assignment 3

Man vs. Society

I believe the major conflict in this story would be Man vs. Society. If Lakshmi's family was wealthy, and if they lived in a better place, she wouldn't have ended up in the brothel. If her stepfather would work, and not go gambling every night, they would at least have enough money to help the whole family survive.
" A tin roof... the tea shop" p.1
" Most of the... the old men" p.8
" Ama wipes her... a tin roof" p.48

Assignment 2

THE LIVING DEAD p.193

Monica was finally able to leave the Happiness House, and go back to her village. Apparently her family didn't want her back. When Monica's parents found out she was coming back, they waited for her outside the village, and begged her not to come back because she would disgrace them. She had gone back to the Happiness House since she had no where to go. When Lakshmi had seen her, she had bruises all over her arms and shoulders because of the beating she had gotten from her dad with a cane. The saddest part was that the parents had told Monica's little girl that she had died.