Warren St. John’s novel Outcasts United is about a team of refugees in Clarkston, Georgia brought together by a Jordanian woman named Luma Mufleh. These refugees came together to form a soccer team called the Fugees. The Fugees was an outlet for all of the refugee children to use so that they could feel free and happy again. One of those refugees is Kanue Biah from the Under 15 group of the Fugees.
Kanue Biah is a refugee from Nimba County in eastern Liberia. He was only 2 when he left his home for a refugee camp, but was separated from his parents. He was raised by his uncle Barlea, and his great-aunt. Kanue’s uncle was accepted for resettlement in Clarkston in 2004, and a year later, Kanue joined him. (St. John, 134) It is difficult to analyze Kanue because there is not…show more content… Because he was Liberian, he was fluent in English, but he did have a thick accent. Children still made fun of him, but he was strong and learned from them rather than holding a grudge. He was so young when he left Liberia that it’s hard to say if he has any memories of why he even left.
There was a civil war going on in Liberia at the time that Kanue fled his country. Most of it was in western Liberia, but eastern Liberia was still affected. “Rapes and murders of Liberian civilians have driven refugees across the border” (Donovan) This time of turmoil in Liberia has caused many people to flee their homes and become refugees. There was a civil war that had started in 1989 and had continued until 1996, though many people were still troubled by the war and took refuge even after it had ended. The war had terrified citizens in Liberia, driving them into hiding, and out of the country. A man named Jacob Massaquoi retold his story of what happened in an interview with Michel Martin, a host on NPR News. “People were screaming. People running everywhere for refuge. And for me…behind a brick wall. So one of the
