loyde Vumpa

[loydevumpa]

Words by X

[loydevumpa]

Chapter 13

The Immigration story of X

X’s immigration story is a little more inique, but surprisingly more common that people think. 

Being related to a hated political figure can be life threating depending on what country you live in. X is related to a former dictator/ president of DRC.  

One day there was a lot of comotion about something the former dictator said and the next day X’s home was targeted. A mob of people attacked her house with guns and tear gas,  shooting at all the homes in that street including X’s home. Luckily no one in her family was hurt that night; they hid all night long until the noise stopped. X explains how this was a very traumatizing moment especially for her mother and its a memory she had chose to forget. 

That same year on her 15th birthday her dad told the family that they are visiting the U.S.

( that was a lie)

X moved to the U.S in 2017 with her family except her dad who stayed back due to his job. As a first generation immigrant she faced homelessness for 2 months. Being homeless and staying at a family shelter was not so bad as there were many congolese there as well which made the experience better. The worse thing about that time period was the weather. X moved to portland Maine, one of the coldest states in the U.S. 

Becasue she was an immigrant X faced Racism, especially at school and was held back year at school. The bridges that made things tolerable for X were Churches that donated winter clothes, congolese communities in portland that brought some culture and familiarity. 

Before immigrating X was a 15 year old girl who loved to sing at church and school choir. Today X is a college student and has been living in the U.S for about 5 years now. She works at a boys and girls club of america and because she immigrated to the U.S she sees her dad maybe once a year for 2 weeks. X and her family are waiting on immigration to call for their interview to receive permanent residency. 

She has kept her culture and is still able to speak both french and Lingala( native language). Has multiple friends and a Boyfriend who is also Congolese and has recently taken an interest in sociology. She still sings for fun.

 X is happy that she immigrated and of the opportunities she has, but wishes to visit her home country that she holds dear to her heart.  

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Myself

My family history is actually very interesting. Let me start with myself. I was born in Angola 🇦🇴( a country in central Africa). But that is not where I grew up. I grew up in South Africa and moved to the US in 2017 with my family. Not growing up in Angola makes it harder for me to maintain my culture and speak my first language. These are some things that first generation immigrants face when they move to a completely different country 

My history

Culturally I am Musolongo( the picture above ). This is the tribe where my dad is from and his own family. We have our own language, clothes, cultural practices, etc. My ancestors moved from Cape Verde to Angola to this tribe. So this is my ethnicity and my nationality is Angolan.

Living in this US

My family moved here in 2017. I think we have adopted some American Nationalism. At home, we mostly speak English but sometimes Portuguese ( The current 1st language in Angola). When my dad is on the phone he speaks many tribal languages that he knows and so does my mom. We sometimes have American dishes that we enjoy although mostly we eat African food at home.

Practicing cultural norms

Lucky for us we have a big Angolan community in our city so we often have opportunities to celebrate events. Such as having two weddings( a cultural one and a white wedding). Because of this community, we have more opportunities to practice speaking Portuguese and other tribal languages.

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superwoman- Alicia keys. Gender and Power

Superwomen-Alicia keys 

I wear it on my shoulders gotta find strength in me

Cuz I am a superwoman yes

Cuz even when I am a mess I still put on a vest with an ‘’S’’

These lyrics show that black women carry the weight on the world and have to be strong. She mentions being a superwoman in relation to just being a woman. Being a woman is portrayed as being weak which is why alicia keys emphasisses that she is “Super”. The last line speaks on how she does not prioritize herself and is forced to be this superwoman. You can see the roles of gender and power, black women are the bread winners of their family and they are essentially carrying the weight on their shoulders. 

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This is a map of the basement floor at Harper Tubman. The pink are all the rooms. I chose this place because this is my floor and I wanted a chance to really look around. I never realized how spaces the it really is and that my room is very close to the emergency exit. I though that they would be a trash bin nearby but there are not any. The signs of COVID-19 are all the flyers reminding people that there is no visitaion. 

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This chart showed me that Most of the things I own I can live without. I do contribute to consumer culture. I buy things that I think will benefit me. I think my list is not too bad compared to others and that I most things that we want are slowly becoming needs in order to fit into society. I do believe that consumer culture has a strong influence on us as social media platforms advertise a lot of things to us. Not all things advertisements are bad and sometimes you get something you didnt even know you neede. I think comfort is also a need and something being a want does not mean that its not important to someones life

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Originally fragrances were first used for religious purposes, some people believed that evil spread by a foul smell. But perfumes the way it is known today was first created by a woman named Tapputi; she is the very first chemist. 

As for victoria's secret fragrances, they are named after the Victoria's secret clothing line. Fun Fact the very first perfume by them was named Victoria.  Victoria's secret makes most of their clothing items in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and India,  But their perfumes are made by intimate beauty corporations. One being the Givaudan fragrance house in Paris. 

Personally I enjoy their fragrances because although they are not very strong they pair up well with other perfumes. I have countless options to choose from with affordable prices and when layered with my perfume it i end up with a more unique scent. Their perfumes  are made at a lab factory  and working conditions are good for chemists.