MY FIRST SPEECH

On thursday, 15th Feb.24, our pratice exercise was about speech. Our teacher ask us to write and present a short but very expressive speech. I'm sharing mine with you.

"Dear colleagues and comrades 

Ladies and gentleman,

I would like to start by expressing my gratitude and joy to all of you, for being part of this class and for all the good times away from home! 

Your frendship and support makes my English learning journey even brighter.

By the way, allow me tell you an anecdote which relates to my lifetime experience. I promise not to take much of your time.

When I started to become aware of things and life around my little world, 47 years ago, I met a friend, just a little boy like me.  

His father was semi-literate and his mother illiterate. Both was peasants in a remote rural area of Angola.

My friend's father used to listen to the radio and this influenced so much the boy. 

On silence, he was cultivating the desire to become a radio broadcaster one day in the future.  

I heared his father giving him two life lessons:

Study hard and, once you reach the age to find a job, work with probity and honor.  Unfortunately my friend's father died before the boy turned 9 years old.

After that, the civil war reached our village, and we were forced to take refugee in Luanda where life became so hard, much more than it used to be in our village. 

He had no place to call home, no food, no documents to enroll in public school, and so on.

My friend used to sell goods on the street and was forced to repeat two grades he had already taken, since he did not have documents to prove his truth. Besides, it was the last opportunity he had to study again. 

With his new teacher, my friend gained the reading and writing skills.

So he made his best and studied a lot in public schools and in two universities later on. 

Times later he became a journalist and University Teacher.  After that he started writing books and built a library back in the village where he spent some of his childhood years.  

I would like to tell you more abouth my friend, should I have much time.  

This whole story about my friend is written in a book published last year in Angola.  

Regardless of where we were born, it is possible to grow.  We just need to cultivate a dream, follow a purpose and find a model to follow.

This friend of mine, who I value very much, is myself. Thank you for listetining and for sharing your empathy!"

Cape Town, SA.