Resilience

Our reslience project was directed towards coparing faous resilient figures fro the past to our everyday life friends and families. We had to write an essay about the as well as write a poem or piece of art with an artist satement. enjoy!





Love is Free!

By: Shaelyn Washburn

Dedicated to the wonderful women who have changed live forever as we know it by showing love to the lost

Loretta Stermer& Ellen Johnson Sir-Leaf



From dirty ditches to filthy riches, from awful health to incredible wealth there were two young caterpillars in the process of spreading their beautiful wings and shining there incredible love on the earth. These woman also show that no matter what the situation in life there is always happiness in reach, though too many people are busy digging through there problems to find happiness that if they just looked in front of them they could reach it. Happiness is where ever you see it.


Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was one of the few humans who had too much love in her heart to sit and watch her people get abused and mistreated. She did not have resources, riches, or even reliable help. Though that did not stop her from accomplishing what she believed to be her destiny. Ever since Ellen was a small child she had big dreams. She studied hard and got a partial scholarship in Harvard University where she waited on tables every second of her spare time in order to afford the fees. Once she came back to her home country she spent long years of political activism where her economical ideas became serious considerations in the country. Major leaders of the country at the time saw not only her great mind but her great passion for her country. They knew that she would not just preach her ideas but she would practice them as well. Ellen after many years became so experienced that she was elected president of Liberia as the First African Woman president in the world. “It means that I have a great responsibility to meet the expectations of Liberian and African women. I'm humbled by the challenge. I will be under the microscope all the time: whatever I do and say, how well I am able to move the Liberian development agenda, how I am able to promote peace and reconciliation. I'll have a lot of detractors who would want to see me fail, not only because of my long years of political activism in Liberia, but because they aren't really convinced that women can be leaders.” She stated at an interview with Time Magazine. Not many have a love like Ellen, but there are still a great amount of people, especially one girl thousands of miles away back in the deep country of Virginia.


Loretta Stermer was not even gave lemons to make lemonade, she ways given a hand full of dirt and a few rocks. Her mother Carrycough had her at the age of 15. Carrycough was not nearly ready for the title of mom, so Carrycough’s mother (Loretta’s Grandmother) raised the child while she sent her daughter away to boarding school to go live a completely different life of freedom. It was almost a perfect plan, Loretta had lived with her grandmother for several years not knowing her true mothers identity when one day her grandmother got awfully sick. A few months passed and Loretta was without guardian. She was sent to a farm for foster care where she worked vigorously for a few more years. Her foster parents used her more as a employee then a child. She was given back to the program when she go sick. One of her lungs collapsed. She didn’t have to money for treatment and neither did the foster home. She was ready to meat her maker when an incredibly generous doctor offered to perform an operation on her just barely saving her life. She lied in bed for almost nine months thinking to herself “If I were to die today in this hard bed in this cold hospital, not a single soul would mourn over my death” She was only 10 years old when her life was already headed straight for the gutter. She ended up living through the difficult times and went back to the foster home. She got a basic education as did most children but hers was with a pack of harsh un-loving rude nuns. All of the children heated the nuns because they hated the children. My grandmother finally survived childhood and went off to a close college for a four year degree in nursing. She was living poorer than poor as a nurse when she met the love of her life… Robert. Robert couldn’t stay away from her. They met at a bus stop when the bus was 5 minutes late. If the bus wasn’t late Robert wouldn’t have caught it in time and thus for they would never have met and created a superior line of genes. Within two months of there meeting, He proposed. They were in a deep love for the rest of there life. Robert was a scientist and could well afford to pay for a family on his alone salary, though Loretta loved to help nurse people so much that she continued her job for the next two decades. Stories around our family go on about the great love of Loretta. How much she has fixed fights of the family and how much she has made the last remaining moments of peoples lives happy just by shining her light on them. Loretta was never shown any love but somehow and some way she still had love in her heart, free to give to all whom seek it. Loretta survived such difficult times without love and she says that she doesn’t ever want anyone to go without love again. With these priorities in her life she put the Stermer family to a great name. I am sad to say that Loretta passed away on January 11th many years ago due to lung failure. We are sad of her death but even sadder about the incredible decrease in love we feel now that she is gone. We can see how much of a difference she made on our lives. And she is our inspiration of giving out as much love as humanly possible.


These two women were and are an amazing contribution to the example of what the world can be if we could all just show a little love. They have changed my life because now I understand how important it is too feel loved and to give love and I think that many people will lead lives like them by simply being kind. These women made something out of nothing but love. Happiness is where you see it. Joy is where you feel it. But love, love is where you put it. And the best thing about that is that you can put it anywhere you want, because love is free!

my poem:

liberia, liberia, whatever shall we do. They sent you to this country after slavery was done with you. Ever since you came here you've known they always knew, that paying you for factory work could make them money too.

But then a leader named ellen saw factory companies abuse like a fellenso she used her tough love she gave oppertunities above all those factory workers who were smellin

she fought she behaved it was goodness she craved, in the end it was all worth her while. Now in the night she can rest for all days are her best as first african fenale president she will smile.

I also made a piece of art that included an artist statement about the design. It represented how alot of people sit and watch others help the earth and they need to get up and help it themselves to help the world. If no one makes a change it makes a difference.