PEACE STORY FOR INDONESIA

We are all the same

written by Jenni Saarinen

Kaarina Senior High School, Finland

Once upon a time there was a boy called Ben. Ben and his family had moved to Finland just a few weeks ago. Ben was black and was bullied because of the colour of his skin.
At school he spent his time alone with no friends. He was happy that his family moved to Finland but he never knew there was so much racism  there. Ben's classmates said some bad things to him and called him unpleasant names. Ben was too afraid of telling his teacher about the bullying. The school days were extremely hard. Fortunately they never used violence.
After a month and a half from the day they had moved Ben was already used to the bullying but still it didn't feel nice. The words still hurt. One day Ben was standing in the hallway when the classmates started ushing him. Ben was surprised and afraid. Lucky for Ben their teacher came and saw the guys pushing him. The teacher was really angry. She told everybody to go into the classroom. Then she checked out if Ben was ok. In the next lesson the teacher spoke about different people and the importance of different cultures. She asked Ben to tell somet hing about his culture and family. At first Ben was shaking in front of the class but after he had talked he felt relieved. The next day when he was standing in the hallway the classmates who had bullied him came and apologized to him. Ben forgave them although the bullying was wrong. Ben wanted some peace between his classmates. After that day Ben has had many friends. No more standing in the hallway alone.