Fr. Pedro Arrupe SJ, founder of Jesuit Refugee Service, was the 28th general (1965-83) of the Society of Jesus. Born Nov. 14, 1907 in the
Basque country of Spain.
Chapter 6 - Writings on Refugees
Child Refugee Poets
If I were President
By Roberto, age 10
The tanks would be playhouses for the kids.
Boxes of candy would fall from the sky.
The mortars would fire balloons.
And the guns would blossom with flowers.
All the world’s children
Would sleep in peace unbroken
By alerts or shouting.
The refugees would return to their villages.
And we would start anew.
© Refugee Week 2006.
By Nedim, age 5
I had a new tricycle
Red and yellow and with a bell.
Do you think they have destroyed my
Tricycle too?
© Refugee Week 2006.
What do you think the children refugees are trying to
express through the poems above? Based on what you have
learned about refugees thus far, consider writing your own
poem about the refugee experience.
