Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, aged 11, writes a letter to her friend's daughter, who just joined the family yesterday from Africa.
Sunday, May 2, 2004~
Dear Anna Grace:
Jambo! Habari gani? M'zuri sana, asante sana! (You didn't know I knew Swahili, did you? Well, I DO!! I have a friend from Kenya, M'buti Moore-Sormiento, and she was the one who taught me. You would like M'buti; she is really nice, and she is very pretty! She is of the Maasai tribe, and she was born in Kenya, Africa, in the town of Thika, near Nairobi; but she now lives in America with her husband and three little kids. She came to America nearly 6 years ago, and she loves it here, but she still misses Africa at times.)
My name is Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, and I am 11 years old. I want to take time now to welcome you to America, and I also want to welcome you into the Williams family! I am so happy for you!
I don't know much about you, Anna, except your name WAS Abayomi Chipo, but now you are called Anna Grace. I also know that you lost your legs; and I was so sorry to hear that! But I am sure that you will learn to walk, and pretty soon you will be chasing your new sisters around the house! I also know that you are from Kenya, in Africa.
To tell you a bit about myself, I am older than you are--I will be 12 years old on December 25 this year--yes, I was born ON Christmas Day!!--, and I am disabled too; but I try NOT to let my problems bog me down. Oh, I MAY have bad days, where I am in a lot of pain, but I REFUSE to let my problems get to me, and I try to go on living as best as I can. I walk with the help of Lofstrand crutches and leg braces because I have JRA (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis), but I take medicine and have therapy to help me with the pain; and I also have asthma, but I am doing much better with that. I have allergies; but I am getting better as I get older, and now my allergies (with a few exceptions) are no longer such a big issue for me. I am a very happy girl, and I love to do things like read (like you, I read just about anything I get my hands on!), write stories and poems (I am right now writing a book about my life), go to church, sing (I am a singer), play with my brothers and sisters and also my friends, collect porcelain dolls (my newest one I got recently while I was in Alaska, it is an Inuit, or Eskimo, doll, and she is really pretty!), travel (I have been to all over the United States; and I also have been to Canada and Mexico), and swim. I also love to go to school. (I am in the fifth grade, and my teacher is Mrs. Thompson. She is really nice.) I also love to hang out with my best friend, Nicole Aldape, and go to camp. (I go to arthritis camp every August for a week; this was where I met Nicole. She and I have been best buds ever since.)
What do I look like? Well, I am short for my age (I look more like eight or nine than going on twelve years of age!) and skinny, and I have longish black hair and black eyes; and I wear braces on my teeth. I also wear braces on my legs and walk on forearm crutches because as I mentioned earlier, I have arthritis. People say I am very cute; but I would much rather be taller than I am and heavier; I look too much like a little kid, and it is embarrassing! People are always thinking I am younger than I am, and it is really getting to be annoying!!
Well, Anna, I just wanted to email you and welcome you to America; you will love your family once you get to know them, and I would love to meet you myself! Congratulations on getting a new family, and again, welcome to the United States of America and to your new family! Until later, Kwaheri!
With much love, a new friend in America (I live in the state of Tennessee with my family), Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, aged 11.
Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
