It was a really loud and scary night, almost the scariest one I have ever had. The lightning bolts were smashing into the ground, as if the ground was being punished. The rainfall was so heavy; it was like the water was trying to wash away the grime and filthiness away from our small country. It was 5:00 am, “ding, ding, ding” as my alarm clock went on, time for me to wake up and get myself dressed for school. I had to make sure that mine and my brother’s breakfast and lunch are prepared before we head out for our eccentric journey to school.

Saad is 12 years old. Bilal, the youngest, is only 5 years old and I am 7 years old, we all seemed to be grateful this morning because our house wasn’t flooded from the rain like others. It was a disgusting mess outside, people’s personal belongings were washed away into the streets, their houses looked like they had been melted. I couldn’t help but compare the sight to ice cream in a bakery, always melted. Everyone was so devastated, they had lost all their hard work and the so-called place “home”.

When we got near the city, it was worse. There was a huge flood, everyone running and screaming for help, going after their vehicles, workshops, personal belongings, etc. The water was higher than me and Bilal, Bilal was begging to go home, but Saad got angry and told Bilal, “school is where we will learn how to make this world a better place. If you don’t want your kids to grow up like us and face the struggles we do, then we must attend school to gain knowledge and education, so we can make enough money to leave our home country.” “Home country”, I repeated this to myself, I loathed this word. It was a country where children were taught to act and think like adults the minute we said our first words. 

There was no way we could cross the cities unless we knew how to swim to the next village, but I had no idea how to maintain a steady balance; therefore, my older brother found a way to get us three through the city. There was a massive tire, perhaps for a truck. My brother dragged it near us, while doing so, he told me and Saad to quickly hop on before it floats away. We all successfully climbed on top of it and were floating towards the direction we needed to head, it was a filthy tire and smelled like disgusting, but we had to find some way through the city. Saad had lost one of his shoes while he was searching for the tire but that was the least of our concerns at the moment. Everyone was staring at us they all looked very curious as to what we were doing.

We have finally passed through the easier part of our journey. Our tire was not slowing down. It kept going faster with the current flow of the water; leading us to the river. We were all freaking out about how we might be late for school, but not about the fact that we were heading towards the city river. We all loved school, it was the only place that we were able to act like children. We have finally reached the river, filled with garbage, resembling a landfill. Our school was just across the river, all three of us had to put one hand into the water and steer south. Finally, we reached school, feeling relieved. We made it through another mysterious day of our lives, and it was only through perseverance and for the hope of a better future.

Hope is the key to life. It guides everyone to become a better person and believe in something good. It helped me and my siblings when everything was going bad. It helped me through rough times because I believed some good will result from the hard work. If we didn’t have hope then we would not believe or trust anything. Hope is a great quality that everyone should have.