ADJUSTING TO CULTURE CHANGE

Adjusting to American culture for Peter was very difficult because it was different from what he was used to. While in Kenya he said America was like heaven but when he got there it was quite different from what he expected. Peter had faced a lot in his early life, first he had had to escape from his own country because of a war, went to Ethiopia but they weren't accepted so they had to take refuge in Kenya. He had just come from a refugee camp in Kenya and had been a refugee for most of his life so life in America was very different for him.


First of all although he had an English background as a student, he couldn't speak English excellently well like every other person in America. This never really bothered him while in Kenya because they had another language of communication and he could speak it as much as everyone else and like him most people couldn't speak English excellently well. When he was in America he had to struggle to make his English better and he also felt different from others because he couldn't speak English well so this affected his ability to settle down and enjoy America. He managed to adjust to this new language because it wasn't totally new to him and did his best to speak it like every other person.


He also found it difficult to settle down because so many things stopped him from being able to socialize with the people. First he saw his skin colour as being different from that of every other person in America even the African-Americans were a little fairer than himself and as a result he felt so ashamed and couldn't socialize with a lot of people but after some time, he realized that this didn't really matter, after all the African- Americans made him feel very welcome. So many people would tell him that they were from African descant so this made him feel a lot more comfortable among them. The way this people got their food was far different from what he was used to get it back at the refugee camp. At the refugee camp, food was naturally rationed for everyone but here he had work and go to the shops and buy food. Even though this was different for him, he didn't just sit there and allow himself to starve he worked extra hard to make sure he survived. Before he left Sudan his father died and he couldn't find his mother and at his school he thought there were a lot of rich kids and being a child without parents, he felt inferior to the other children and this also affected him. This may have affected him but didn't stop him from pursuing his education and at the end, the result was evident as he got into the government honour roll and was qualified to further pursue his education. At a christian fellowship he was asked if he had a girl friend and he said no because he didn't know how to get one in America and this shows how different he felt. At the fellowships they sang songs he didn't know and he wasn't used to and so he felt left out. Although he felt left out, he still continued to try to make friends. His feeling of being left out also hugely affected his ability to settle down and he did his best to overcome it.


All these things made the Peter and other Lost boys unable to fit in so easily. This makes them realize that there isn't a place like home and they miss their old life so much but they didn't let this make them forget their mission to bring hope to their country