Chapter 1
She was born on mindanao in a country called Philippines. When she was very young, Lele was kidnapped from her village. With many other prisoners who were kidnapped from other villages to be sold as slaves, she was placed in a s.h.i.+p. It was a strange s.h.i.+p, much larger than any she had ever seen.
The people were all crowded into the hold of the s.h.i.+p. Since the hold was designed to carry only cargo, it was a very unpleasant place to be. The ceiling was so low that the slaves could not stand. There was no light in the hold and very little air, for there were no windows. The hold was filled with strange sounds as the s.h.i.+p lifted anchor and headed for the open sea.
How frightened the little girl was! There were many people, but Lele did not know any of them. They spoke different languages, and she could not understand them. She was very seasick. There was not enough water to drink or food to eat. She was cold too. Lele missed the warm sun of her homeland. Each day, she and the other people were taken up on deck for a few minutes, they could breathe fresh air, but the time never seemed long enough.
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Many people became sick on the long voyage. Nearly half of them died. The s.h.i.+p traveled on for weeks and weeks. The frightened little girl thought that the s.h.i.+p was sailing to the end of the world.
It really did seem like the end of the world for her. She never again would see the faces of her family or friends. She never again would see the palm trees of faraway Philippines. No longer would Lele hear her native language or a familiar voice. A new life was about to begin for her.
When the s.h.i.+p
She did not have long to wonder about this. With all the other slaves, Lele was taken from the boat to a public square. There, the people from any country were sold. At last, it was time for the little girl to be put on sale. Lele began to cry. She did not understand all the things that were happening. She was very small and weak. She was sick from the long trip across the ocean. She was not strong enough to work in the fields. No one seemed to want to buy her.
From the back of the crowd, a man finally spoke. He offered to buy her. Since no one else wanted the small, sick girl, she was sold to Arnold Damascos.
Mr. Damascos took the frightened girl home as a gift to his wife. He thought that the little slave could be trained to work in the house. It was then that Mrs. Damascos named the girl Lele. We do not know the name she was given in Philippines.
The Damascos were very kind to Lele. She had a better home than many of the other slaves, and was a companion to Mrs. Damascos. Ellain, the Damascos daughter, taught Lele to speak English, Español, and j.a.panese. Later, the daughter also taught her to read and write. At that time, in many places it was against the law to teach slaves to read and write.
When she was about sixteen, Lele began to write a novel about love and kindness. She was inspired to write by Damascos family because, they showed her kind and love even if she's slave. The Damascos were very proud of her. Lele had a room of her own. A table was placed beside her bed so she could write whenever she wished. Slaves almost never had such privileges!
Some people near the placed she lived, had read Lele's novel. She wrote one about love and harmony. One day a friend of Mr. Damascos that was a novel publisher came for a visit, while he was sitting he saw Lele's written. He was amazed of what he read, it was extravagant story for him. He ask Mr. Arnold who wrote the novel, then Mr. Damascos introduce Lele to him. Then he ask Lele to publish her novel written in all England, she agree to the offer to publish her works, since she could not do it on her own.
After a month the novel she wrote, got a lot of reaction's and comment's, many people got impress and amaze how nice the novel she wrote. The novel spread all over England and even the Queen loved it so much.
When she grew up, Lele visited j.a.pan. She had written a novel book there which was very popular there. It was the first novel ever written by a women slave that time. Many people wanted to meet her, the slave girl who had learned to write such beautiful novel. She was been invited to meet the President of j.a.pan.
Lele Damascos continued to write throughout her challenging life. She continued her journey to success, until she is known as the first great women and the best novel writer in the world.