Freshman!

Hello readers! Today, I'm talking to all the freshman that will be coming to our school. Although I won't be there to help you through the school I definitely have some tips for all of you. Do not be lazy and procrastinate! It will get you nowhere and leave you more stressed than ever. Junior and senior year will destroy all people who wait until the last moment. Another tip I have for you guys is to join activites. Freshman year, I didn't have a lot of friends. But than I started going to meetings for clubs and later I joined marching band which got me a lot of friends! Talk to people you see around you. If you see someone sitting alone, it's probably because they have no one to talk to either. There's no shame talking to someone new. One more tip is, talk to your teachers. They are there to help you. They don't want to see you fail and they do not hate you. If you talk to your teacher about why something is not getting done ( a week or so before it's due) they'll try to help you. Or they might even give you a different assignment that fits you better. High school is all about you. It's not a time to look back on negatively. You should love every moment of it. I hope these tips helped you! Good luck at Timber Creek and have a great four years!

Burundian Civil War

The Burundian Civil War happened over 20 years ago. It started in 1993 and ended in 2006. The country was split into two, the Hutu and the Tutsi. When the first Hutu president was assassinated the country fell into war. The country has still been on a rocky path since the end of the war. But in 2015 the president Pierre Nkurunziza decided that he was going to run for a third term. The country fought for democracy and thought this was unconstitutional. Nkurunziza ended up winning the third term which has thrown the country into chaos. President Nkurunziza has started passing laws that are limiting the people. He passed a law that limited what the press could say, to stop the press from "undermining national security". The country started throwing riots to show their anger at not being part of the reelection. So far over 200,000 people have fled and 700 people have died.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13085064

War in Syria

The war in Syria has been going on for a long and tiring four and a half years. The war started because people had began to lose trust in their leader, president Bashar al-Assad. The countrt felt as if they had no political freedom. There was a high unemployment rate and there was corruption throughout the country. Pro-democracy demonstrations started in march of 2011. After the demonsttations the government made sure the people felt their rage and shot the people invovled. As of right now over 250,000 people have died and 4.5 million people have fled. The country has been split. Rebels are being helped by the gulf states which are getting supplies to the rebels through turkey. And Assad is getting help from Iran.
The war is most connected to loss. Loss is seen from the very beginning of the war. The war started because part of the country had lost faith in their leader/ government. Once the man lost their trust he had no way to get it back. They wanted him gone and he had to fight to keep his spot.
I think the reasons are right to go to war. The country was becoming too corrupt and the people were not happy. But overall the affect that the war has left on the country is even worse than when they started. Syria used to be a home for people but now it's a war zone. You can't raise your kids in that environment. The people who fled probably didn't want to leave their home but because of the war, their was no guarantee that that home would still be there when you came home from work.
I got my info from these websites and one video.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868
https://www.google.com/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/35806229
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DNKb9GVU8bHE&ved=0ahUKEwjmhbbIubPRAhXh7IMKHZOaDQAQt9IBCH8wDw&usg=AFQjCNEqDGbVz93nDe0t3D9yoZNmmjY11g&sig2=qKPvBLhgGhkX6syhVBDi1g