Imagine that you wake up one day and all that you know, all that is familiar, comforting and stable, is gone. All that you own has been confiscated by the government or destroyed. Your family is scattered. Some family members are in prison. Others have been killed. All that once made sense is now gone.

Imagine that the only hope anyone sees for survival is to flee what you once called home and now you are taking the courageous step of flight. You leave your home with nothing more than the clothes on your back and perhaps a photograph, a book or a doll that reminds you of happier times. Your heart is breaking. You are almost paralyzed with fear but you do what all refugees do, you place one foot in front of the other and you move. You have no idea where you are going but you hope it is a place where you feel safe.

Now imagine the same set of circumstances but you are a three-and-a-half year old child. You have the experience of watching your parents live in fear. You feel very scared and lost. Your heart is breaking but you do not have the skills to tell anyone how you feel. Fear is your reality.

Under these circumstances can you imagine a happy future for yourself?

My name is M Teresa Lawrence and I am a Cuban refugee. As far as immigrant refugee stories go, my story is a blessed one. I immigrated to the United States, grew up in an affluent New York Suburb, graduated from Amherst College and Columbia Law School. I am an accomplished lawyer, publisher, and educator. But I can tell you from personal experience that all refugee children suffer, even if they present themselves as brave and empowered. They grow up feeling that they are “other.” I believe that what children CHOOSE to do with that feeling can completely change the course of their lives.

I left Cuba at the age of three-and-a-half. I am the youngest of four children and we all left Cuba with our parents in 1969. We left with the clothes we were wearing and whatever small item we were able to carry. I remember feeling fearful. I remember feeling and experiencing the anger and fear my parents were experiencing. I also had no way of communicating my feelings. When we arrived in the United States, my family scattered because no one person could take in a family of six. That was a heartbreaking experience for me because I already felt homeless. Now I felt homeless and abandoned.

What my child self could not grasp at the time was that I been given a true gift before I left Cuba. A gift that changed my life. Before I left Cuba, my grandmother Araceli gave me a doll and told me to share my stories, my experiences, with the doll. My grandmother was a truly magical storyteller. She told me that stories had power and could change the world. She asked me to imagine that I was going on a grand adventure and to always imagine a beautiful ending. I have been writing my stories and rewriting my grand adventure since the day I left Cuba. Life happens, life stories reflect what people choose to make out of what happens each day. I still feel “other,” but it is such a magical, loving, gifted other that still thinks simple acts of kindness can change the world, that I am completely grateful for the grand adventure of life.

My wish is this: I wish to gift each refugee/displaced child my book GLORIOUSNESS, a journal and colored crayons. The book is designed to teach children English and to inspire them to write their own stories. They must know that they are the creators of their journey, regardless of circumstances, they can choose their path. It is my hope that these children get inspired by the book and use the journal to create stories of hope, peace, health, gratitude, safety and compassion. I want them to know that love comes from within. They have the power to own and know their trueness.

I need help making my wish a reality. Please help me to help these children to write their own grand adventures and to imagine their beautiful happy futures. I imagine taking the stories they write and creating books for them, which they can share with each other. Really, they can create a community of grand adventurers who know from a young age that they can think and grow rich in all areas of their lives.

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