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Title of the article: Sera's Story Growing Poor in San Francisco
My Reaction: After reading this article and watching the video on Sera's story I realized how very blessed my children and I are. I would consider myself and average American now. But when I was growing up wiht my five sister and a single mom we lived in a small mobile home where we experienced much of what Sera experiences in the room where she is living with her mom and sister. Our home was very small and when we took baths our ceiling and walls fogged up and caused our ceiling to be covered in mildew. My mother didn't have the money to repair our home, so we did what we did to clean up the mildew the best we could. Although that was not the worst of our worries, we were still happy to have a home and loved being united the way Sera seems to be with her family. It is very sad to see how there are still people on the streets. I learned that I am not as strong as I think I am. I loved Sera's optimistic personality.

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Photo credit: Jezza Neumann

San Francisco is the most expensive place in America to find a home, but that doesn't deter the 400,000 people coming each year to the Bay Area in search of a new home and a new life.

Eleven-year-old Sera, her sister and her mother moved to San Francisco in 2009. But when the economy collapsed, her mother lost her job and the family now survives on her $600 monthly unemployment checks.

After five months in a shelter and more than a year in transitional housing, the family has moved to a one-room rent-subsidized apartment in the Tenderloin - a neighborhood synonymous with drugs and violence - while they wait for subsidized housing to come through. But they are just one missed rental payment away from returning to the shelter.

VIDEO CREDITS:
PRODUCED, FILMED AND EDITED BY
Jezza Neumann

ONLINE EDITOR
Michael Amundson

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Sera's Story: Growing Up Poor in San Francisco

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Photo credit: Jezza Neumann San Francisco is the most expensive place in America to find a home, but that doesn't deter the 400,000 people coming each year to the Bay Area in search of a new home and a new life. Eleven-year-old Sera, her sister and her mother moved to San Francisco in 2009.

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The sabar dance is a traditional dance performed in Senegal/The Gambia. This dance reminds me of a dance we practice in Mexico. "Zapateo" is very similiar to this. The dancer moves their feet to the rhythm of the music. My daughter and I enjoyed imitating the ladies on the video. It was a complete workout. We moved up and down and side to side. We hoped and laughed like the people in the video. Even though this is not my culture, I love the rhythm of traditional dances performed by African American's. I love how joyful they look dancing to the music. I enjoyed learning about the sabar dance.

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Mike Bennett presents... Bintu's Naming ceremony sabar dance

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The video has ladies dancing a Phillippine traditional cultural dance known as Binasuan. When I first saw this video, I was amazed at how talented the dancers are to hold cups with liquid in them and are still able to walk, dance, and twirl. I tried dancing with only a cup on top of my head, almost impossible. The cup fell off my head several times. The dancers in the video make it look effortless when in reality it is way too difficult to even put a cup with water on the top of your head without making a mess. I think this dance requires a lot of practice and patience. It was incredible to watch them move their cups and move around as much as they did without tipping their cup over. I was amazed at their performance, but I do not think I could possibly master this dance. Ever.

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Jewish people wear a kippah or yarmulkes. About one-third of Israel's Jewish men wear a kippah, especially the religiously observant.

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Turkish fashion retrieved from google images

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The Turkish people wear a yashmac or yasmak  as their head covering. It is recommended for tourist to wear modest clothing and take a headscarf when visiting Turkey.  There are multiple reasons why Turkish people wear a yashmac or yasmak; they may wear them to protect their head or hair from the weather, for sanitation, fashion, religious significance, modesty or other form of social convention.

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Culture: Japanese. They wear a head covering called a hachimaki.

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Language:  How much Spanish do you know?  Spanish is my first langauge.  I am fluent in Spanish.  If any, where did you learn Spanish?  I was born in Mexico and Spanish was the only language I knew until I began Kindergarten. Have you been required to learn Spanish in your college career?  I have not been required to learn Spanish in my college career.  I did take an English Language course last semester but it did not require Spanish to complete any assignments.
I added a video of Jack Hartmann playing the Spanish alphabet. It is a video I think young children would enjoy.

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El Abecedario | Learn the Alphabet in Spanish | Jack Hartmann