Say 'NO'

“My name is Edeltraud Gerda Hamilton. I was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1936. When I was three years old World War II broke out. I don't remember a lot of what was happening when I was three but I remember my father being called into military service. He had no choice but to go. My dada was gone and we lived in fear every day. Life was hard for my mom without dad and she had three little kids to care for. When my brother was about 12 or 13 years old he was taken away from us to serve in the 'Hitler Youth Center', where all young boys had to go.  We lost our home in the war. Life was hard for all of us. We found a damaged but livable place to stay. Food was now rationed and we had very little to live. Once the war was over, it was hard for us to restart our life from nothing.”

Kaleidoscopic Period

"Teenagers are the most misunderstood people on earth; treated like children but expected to act like adults." 

Teenage is the most crucial period of one’s life. But in my opinion, teenage is also the most colorful period of one’s life. It is actually a transition from a silkworm in a cocoon to a beautiful butterfly. During the teenage years, one comes across many dilemmas: fitting in the coolest social groups, nasty nicknames, first crushes, insecurities, self-consciousness, peer pressure and so on. At this time, we feel these are the biggest problems in life. But in fact, this is just an ongoing training which helps immensely in making us strong enough to face the world outside these four walls.