Children Around the World by Jane Hodges-Caballero

I had this book when I was a child. I doubt my mother realised how much of an impact it made on me. This book was about countries around the world. It devoted a few pages to one country, introducing at least fifty countries. It showed pictures of children and dolls in native costumes. The book had pictures of flags, maps, words in various languages to learn, and some activities for each country. There were a few recipes and folk stories for some countries. I spent a lot of time pouring over the pages and wishing I could visit those countries and meet those children.

I didn't grow up in an area with lots of diversity. I grew up in a small town that was filled with mostly white people who were of Polish background. The town was a Polish enclave for many years. There was Polish food and music at church festivals every year. I have some Polish blood from my grandfather. I knew I had Polish relatives in town that we didn't know. They never accepted my grandmother who had parents from England. The few that did were dead.

I did experience some cultural diversity in my neighbourhood as many Puerto Rican families moved in. The friction between them and the white people there was palpable. The white people always complained about the Puerto Ricans using Spanish, having their apartments filled with relatives, and their getting charity. They blamed the problems in the neighbourhood on them, forgetting that some of the worse drug dealers in the place were white. Everybody there was poor and picking up welfare checks. It was nothing but prejudices in the way of common sense.

I picked up a few Spanish words and was told by a white person that I was ridiculous, that I am American and I should speak like one. Puerto Ricans are Americans too, and she didn't know that. She was prejudiced and I don't want to be anything like her.

I have learned to accept cultural diversity. It wasn't always easy because of my background, yet I have learned to shake things off.

The book made me want to be a world traveller. It became my goal in life to travel the world and see as much as I could and learn about the rest of the world. I would get a passport and go everywhere.

When I was seven years old I received a globe for my birthday. I had it for many years. It had ridges on it to show mountain ranges. I liked to spin it and look at it. I wondered what was inside that green mass called the U.S.S.R. and the little spot called West Germany. I randomly asked my teacher how to pronounce "Czechoslovakia". At that age a friend of my teacher's came back from being a teacher in a small island called "Truk" in Micronesia. I loved her slideshow and grass skirts and coconut bowls. I knew I was going to spend some time living in another country.

Since then I did just that. I lived in South Korea from 2005-2006. I returned in 2009. I met up with people from many countries in Korea. They were mostly South Africans and I loved nearly all of them. I met some awesome people from the Philippines, Japan, Australia, the UK, Canada, Nigeria, and New Zealand. I learned how to make clicks in the Xhosa language, read Korean, and more. I travelled around Asia and had extra pages sewn into my passport. I want to keep things like this.