Winning entry
Community: Our Superpower Community: Our Superpower
We didn’t have a choice, We didn’t choose to leave, One day we were home, Next, we were running.
They stared, I stared back. An outcast, That’s who they saw.
Not a holiday, Not an adventure, But an escape. A hope for freedom. A hope for safety, A hope for life.
They said, “Go back home, you don’t belong. Your name’s too weird, your words sound wrong?”
I arrived with no map, Just memories folded like paper, In my pocket, A name that felt foreign in every mouth, A silence sitting heavy on my shoulders. School. School was the scariest part, Everyone already had friends, Inside jokes too, Uniforms that fit, That weren’t mismatched. I had the innocence of a child, Brimming with questions. Trying to make the most of it all, Most of the already difficult plight.
But then Someone offered me a seat at lunch. Said “you can sit here if you want” Like it was nothing, They didn’t know that was everything. Then someone smiled. Shared a joke. Passed me the ball. Held the door. Small things, you may say. But when you’ve lost a whole world, Small things feel like magic. Community, it found me first Not all at once – But in pieces. Continued overleaf