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    • Topic: 
    • Children of the Mountain report
  • From: emmakatesmom
  •   To: All
  • 1 of 3
  • 2/14/09
My husband & I were touched by this story. We can't stop thinking of the young high school student with so much promise! We wish we could some how help him to get back on track with college and live up to his fullest potential. I am ashamed and saddened to see this type of poverty in our own country. It sure puts things in perspective for my family and I during these trying economic times.
  • From: Cryscket
  •   To: emmakatesmom
  • 2 of 3
  • 2/15/09

Thank you so much for watching and thank you so much for posting.

I too felt for that boy.

It's scary to leave the only place you've ever known as home and go anywhere else. The culture shock I felt when I left was huge! And people have looked down on me because of my accent. I've been underestimated more than once because of the way I sound. Being treated that way is disheartening. It's a frightening enough experience already to have to start your life in a strange place, among people who are more well spoken and have been better educated than you. You feel pressured to prove that you're no dumb ####. To add to that that people think you're dumb and are expecting you to fail makes it worse.

I imagine being at school was hard for him. I'm sure he feared he would not be able to pass all the classes. I imagine the worry of how he was going to pay for it all haunted him day after day. Plus all the emotional baggage he brought with him....

it's very hard to come from poverty and that culture he came from and make a way for yourself....but it *is* possible. I am living proof. So is my husband. BUT had it not been for my sister whose only other option was THE MILITARY, we'd probably be dead in a ditch somewhere in the hills of Appalachia.

  • From: Tmedley01
  •   To: Cryscket
  • 3 of 3
  • 3/18/09
I just now watched the special online about the children of the mountains and I was taken back and couldn't believe that people really lived that way. I am trying to find the high school football player who went to Pikeville Community College and couldnt stay because he didnt have the money. I WANT TO HELP HIM! He wants out, he wants better and anyone who watched that show, saw that he tried, but didnt have the resources or money. I am trying every measure to find this boy and if anyone has any information on how I can contact him, pls let me know. I want him to get back in school and accomplish whatever it is he wants...
 
 
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