Essay 2 Profile By Nicole Booton

Senthen Mahendrasa
College Student
Columbus, Ohio

Senthen Mahendrarasa was 11 years old when he first arrived in the United States. He came from Sri Lanka a country where there is still a civil war going on. Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, off the southern coast of India. Senthen is now 22 and the first 11 years of his life were polar opposite of the last 11 years of his life. He and his family have suffered great losses and dealt with many struggles that people in the United States could never even imagine. He was taken in by his uncle in Dublin, Ohio and is now truly living the real American Dream.

When and why did you move to America?
I came here in 1999, the main reason why I left Sri Lanka was after my dad passed away in 1998, we had no way of getting money for the whole family so we needed some money. Someone needed to leave the country to look for a job and be able to support the family. Other thing is there’s an ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka where thousands and thousands of innocent Tamils were killed by the government forces. I lived in bunkers and refugee camps for years and years. I’ve lived without food, so many days, I mean it’s not just myself, there is a lot of other people who were in that same situation. So I didn’t feel like I should get more attention than others because I lived in an area where everybody suffered equally. I lived in bunkers and that was hard. You dig a hole and you put palm tree leaves on top and hide in the hole, that’s where I lived because if a bomb hit it, it would give you more protection. We also lived in a wide open circle, there was actually rattlesnakes in that one. Living in that kind of circumstance I didn’t see myself living in that kind of condition for longer duration, so I wanted to get out. And I was fortunate to get out through many means.
I came here to America illegally and I was arrested in Seattle Washington. I was put in jail for two months. I was actually, since I was underage, they didn’t put me in a juvenile detention center, they put me with the regular detention center. So when I got out, my uncle filled a lawsuit against the immigration for putting me into not juvenile detention center and we won the case, and I got to stay here. I got my green card then after you get your green card you have to wait five years then you apply for your citizenship. Then I became a US citizen.

What would you say was the best decision you’ve ever made?
I mean, best decision was coming here to America that’s the only thing I can think of because if I didn’t come here I would not be alive right now, there is no doubt about that. I would have not been enrolled in school I wouldn’t be studying at all I wouldn’t even be working. Very positive about that being able to come here and live here I think about this all the time. I’m so thankful to be here I would never be able to accomplish anything. If I was there I would have never met a lot of people and learned a new language. The only word I knew was A for Apple. I went to school and the first thing we do is exercises in the morning after we stretch and we run around the building this is honest to God truth. The reason we all do the stretching and running is preparing to run away from school when we hear the airplanes coming. It’s to keep our blood flowing and get us attentive. We switch out students and the person would stand outside and listen for planes coming, if he hears he rings the bell and the school scatters and everyone jumps into bunkers. That’s how our school system school functioned, we didn’t have these fancy lights, these fancy seats, we sat on the ground and sand always came in, and the wall cut off half way for sunlight to come. When you hear the airplane coming, I’ve done it so many times, you just hop over the wall and run. They bomb schools, they bomb churches, the Sri Lanka government. I mean, I’ve seen everything in my life, I’ve seen dead people, I’ve seen all kinds of struggle from hunger, to old lady crying, I can still see the image. [sighs] People like drowning in the water. I still have this picture the far end is lightning, right in front of it a big bomb blast, I can hear an airplane coming in shooting. This was while we were moving from our original house to another location.

Who would you say is your biggest role model?
My uncle is definitely a huge inspiration on me. He went through a lot of struggle in his life to come where he is at now. Plus when I came here, I didn’t speak English. He pretty much motivated me to learn how to speak the language and pretty much academically to be the best I could possibly be. He definitely influenced me and let me understand the whole community aspect and how the community is structured and how the system functions. Also helped me to maintain my culture and my attachment to my identity as to who I am. He also prevented me from forgetting my language still to this day I can still read, write and speak my native tongue as well as in English and Spanish.
I work hard. I really do, I believe in hard work. I mean I have always worked hard in school. In high school I worked harder and harder every day. I’ve been working so hard this quarter everyone’s been making jokes telling me my new house is the library. I worked hard to get a full scholarship to OSU. I work hard, for whatever clothes I wear, whatever I have, I’ve earned it myself. I learned this from my uncle, ya know he taught me the way to get to where I need to be. I took all those materials. I also like to pick up good things from each individual that I meet. They don’t know it but I see good things in each individual and I take that away and try to imply it.
I’ve met great people and a true American is someone who is willing to help others and expect nothing back from that person. Do something for others and don’t expect them to help you back. Do it without knowing because if you do something really good out of your own heart, they will do something for you over time. I think when we sometimes forget that we make money to please ourselves we forget to help others out who are less fortunate than we are. It’s important to keep those people in mind, especially because there are a lot of people who are unfortunate on this planet. Although ultimately you want to be the richest person ever, the American Dream, ya know being rich. But at the same time is it important to give back to society as well.

What would you say are your greatest accomplishments so far?
In 2006 a tsunami struck Sri Lanka and Indonesia so at that time the real factors or main reason I started raising money is the IMF (International Monetary Fund). They donated money and outside nations donated money, but the money that was given to the Sri Lanka government was never given to the Tamil minorities in the north and east, because they were living in the Tamil Tigers held areas. Tamil Tigers were the rebels so none of the aid went into there. So we needed some way to facilitate some kind of aid agency or food relief to go into there. We organized about 15 doctors from Ohio and I raised money and with other donations, we were able to get about $250,000 from Ohio. I raised about $15,000 from high school. And we donated that money to Sri Lanka in full. I would say the aids awareness project I would like to be a part of. Particularly Africa, there’s a lot of kids who don’t even have the choice, they’re born into that. It’s not their fault. People need to know more about it and people need to make better decisions.
I don’t know what I’ve learned so far, but definitely when you live with great opportunities in America, it is important to help others out. Although you’ve come so far it is important to remember who has helped you to become where you are at. It’s definitely important to have a dream or goal because it will allow you to direct yourself towards something you want to achieve in life, ya know. I want to be remembered for working hard. Family means everything to me and I would do anything to help them. Also as a person who likes to serve the community. I would say I’m positive. There’s a saying ya know, you have to acknowledge everyone with full respect. That’s where I come from. Doesn’t matter who they are, strangers or not strangers, I talk to strangers. But it’s good to have positive thoughts and feelings because then you can always talk to people with a positive nature. If you’re always down and look at people differently, then you’re not going to get anywhere. I always have a positive outlook on everybody I meet. They might have done stuff in the past, doesn’t mean you should hold them to that. You should always look at them for who they really are.

What was your greatest challenge that you have overcome here?
In general, I don’t think I’ve met just one challenge in my life. The first challenge that I meet I use that as a way to combat my other struggles or conflicts that I face. I use different strategies to cope with different things that are thrown at me. I mean challenges come on a daily basis for any human being. Me being on my own I’d say it’s hard dealing with school, work, family there’s more, ya know. These may not seem as challenges but if you want to be the best you want to be, and I’m very competitive and I want to be the best. If I don’t get it then I don’t deserve it. If I am going to achieve something I am going to work hard. That’s how I am.
Coming to college, it made me realize that I wanted to be in rallies and be involved in student groups. It made me realize what my true identity is, and what I need to do with my life, what I wanted to achieve. It made me see a clear picture of what I wanted to do in my life. That is to help people who are unfortunate, that’s what I wanna do. It’s not just Sri Lanka, but I want to build houses for people, I want to build schools. Money comes and goes but when you help people ,it’s gonna last and you have opportunities to do better. That’s the best thing about it. Also one day I want to see a country where all my minority Tamil’s can have their own country where they can live peacefully. And whatever it takes to achieve that I am willing to do. I don’t really care about money, to some people it makes them happy but not for me. My vision is to have enough money to help other people.