The First Winter: Stories of Survival by Experienced Hearts

America the Annoying, Painful, and Amazing... The Somali community in Green Bay, Wisconsin is a quiet, hidden, and often misunderstood part of a predominantly white population. But a small group of Somali teenage girls is trying to change that. They call themselves the United ReSisters. Attached are their stories. The First Winter is a trailblazing collection of reflections, conversations, letters, lists, and poems about their experiences as refugees and journeys to the United States. Exploring ambition, loss, their Muslim faith, a mother's devotion, the power of sisterhood, the awkwardness of being a teenager, and other "annoying, painful, and amazing" experiences, these pieces shed new light on topics both veiled and universal. The First Winter is a celebration of homelands old and new: where these girls come from, where they are, where they're going, and everywhere the power of family and friendship to make the unbearable bearable, meaningful, and even joyful. "Revelatory and inspiring young voices." -Kirkus Reviews "A must-read for anyone who wants to learn the basic struggles of displaced people and their challenges upon resettlement in any foreign country, particularly Muslims coming to America." - Bahame Tom Nyanduga, United Nations Independent Expert on the Human Rights Situation in Somalia