Slam Poetry: Teens Talk Vaccines

Published August 18, 2009 @ 05:08PM PT

Ever wondered what American teens think about kids on the other side of the world dying from diseases that can be prevented by vaccines - vaccines that can cost as little as a Snickers Bar?

Well, we asked them.  We asked the teen Summer campers at New York City's Harlem School of the Arts to tell us what they thought and this is what they said.

It will not only move you, but give you great hope that our future is in the hands of young people like the Harlem campers.

Xena Badillo

Have you ever seen those commercials of babies and kids younger than you and feel your heart start to tear apart?

You change the channel and the last thing you see is some man trying his hardest to explain why you should help these kids.

And all you do is change the channel.

The last picture you saw was a little girl with specks of dirt on her face smiling. You think she's OK but somewhere in your head you know her smile's painted on.

You lose sleep at night thinking of her and you almost reach out but suddenly she fades away.  You're too late and now.  All you can see is ashes.

You wake up and run to your TV and all of these commercials are suddenly off. When you had the chance you were too selfish to pay $1.00. And now - now you want to.

You stare until after a few hours the commercial comes on again. Did you ever think that would happen - that you would wait that long to give a vaccine to some kids?

I think not. That just shows how selfish some people can be.

 

Katie Burke

Dear Diary, I just found out that many kids have been dying because they haven't gotten proper vaccinations.  For a while I thought that everyone got shots.  I also found out that the cost of a vaccination is less than the cost of a snickers bar!  I thought it would cost more than that - at least $100.  But I was wrong about that too.  I never really thought about kids dying because they didn't have a shot.  I always got my shots though....

 

Alexei Gumbs

It's important that we help the children in different parts of the world because I want the kids from all over the world to group.  If I can live my life, I want them to be able to travel and do a lot of things just like me.  Vaccines are not even that expensive - just the regular cost of a snickers bar.  So instead of eating a chocolate bar you could be saving someone's life.  So I hope you make the right decision and save a child's life.

 

D'mitri Jones 

Every child deserves to live and that chance to live is being taken away because children can't get the shots they need to help their bodies fight diseases like the mumps or even yellow fever.  So they are dying.  That means our future is dying.

Give money to help = yes!         Do Nothing = No!

 

Kimani Emmanuel

Unity is being free, showing feelings, spreading thoughts to others and cooperating for a cause.

Slam poetry is unity in the sense that we are all here for a good reason.

Have you even been to a foreign country?

And I'm not talking about the world superpowers.

Have you seen the people there?

I'm not one to judge, but

I'd say they aren't so lucky.

I'd say they that they would want more

if they could get it.

Living in their brick houses,

painstakingly raised by them alone.

Sustaining their lifestyle with what little they have.

The children there only have a soccer ball, a bike and dreams.

And yet they make the best of it.

Here you are lucky.

Here children whine about that video game they didn't get for Christmas.

Complain about how small their houses are.

There is no pain here.

There are no dreams here.

The only wishes we have are:

‘I want that Nintendo because everyone does'.

There's a saying that goes:

‘a poor man isn't a man without a coat

but a man without a dream'.

They have no problems with dreams.

They have enough to fill the ocean.

Take us to the moon and back.

Call me a hypocrite but at least I know

what goes on around here.

Maybe we can rise above the consumer level

and learn how to dream,

and how to succeed.

 

Annie Kosh

I want to send all the sick kids vaccines so they won't die.  I also wish that I could get them better homes because maybe that could help them get well faster.  I think part of the reason why these children get sick is that some don't have good living conditions and some of these kids might not have homes at all.  Maybe if we get these sick kids vaccinations and better living conditions, they could get better.  These things could also keep kids in poor countries from getting sick at all.  We should all try to help keep the diseases from harming more kids in the countries without vaccinations.

 

Amari Moyo

‘This doesn't make sense at all'.  Those are the exact words I said when I saw so many sick children. They should be in a hospital.  I started to cry.  On our trip to Africa I didn't know what to expect but certainly not this.  Once we got to our hotel I went outside and talked to the children and learned that they couldn't get cured.  They were so poor they couldn't afford medicine.  This news alarmed me so much I fell to the ground immediately.  I wasn't sure what to do.  My parents have always been able to get me medicine.  I had to leave and go back to the US the next day.  It was the last day of my trip.  I gave them what change I had and left.  They were so thankful they couldn't contain themselves.  I will never forgot them, ever.  They taught me a valuable lesson.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  You never know when you could be in their situation.

 

Kennedy Madden

We know what goes on in the world.

We're able to help but we don't.

We stand by and watch the less fortunate suffer.

Why, I ask, but no-one seems to hear me.

I scream it into the silent mist.

We need to help.

We need to be there.

But no-one can hear me.

No-one can see me.

I need to be seen.

I need to be heard.

Step out of the darkness.

Come into the light.

Let's help the children.

Let's take flight.

 

Sophie Clarke

Me and my mother were visiting South Africa and we were enjoying it, until...We were wandering down the dusty streets when all of a sudden a toddler walking with her mother just collapsed.  Her mother was crying for help, so we took them in our car and rushed them to the nearest hospital.  It was stuffy there.  After about 2 hours the doctor found out that it was some type of deadly disease.  The mother broke down in tears because it was a matter of life or death for her young child.  The doctor also said that it was because the child had not gotten shots three years ago when she was a baby.  It made me feel so much pity for the mother and her child.  Me and my mother sat with the child's mother the whole night.  At 6am the next morning the child was dead.

 

Christina McKnight

It is important that we help these kids in need because they have no type of medicine to cure these types of diseases. It's not fair to them if we just sit back and do nothing when we have the power to cure a nation.  I'm young but smart, from a big family and taught to give back not just take.

 

Sierra Jackson

It is important that we help the children who are not protected because children should live until they are adults.  They should be able to enjoy life.

 

Chelander Narrel Frazier

Kids in America have it easy.  We get all our shots when we're babies.  But kids in Africa can't afford shots and all they cost is a snickers bar.  It's quite sad actually children in America are so lucky.  Africa and other countries that cannot afford shots are trapped, slowly dying and it's such a tragedy.  That's why we all need to work together to help these children in need.  Trust me, you would want somebody to help if you were them.

 

Sydni Alvarez Ganaway

Some don't know what it means to be cured.

Some don't know how it feels to be healthy.

Every day some of them die.

Disease plagues their young lives.

These are children

suffering from sickness.

Some will never know what it's like to grow up