Everybody’s business — #1.Refugee
I took a break from writing, since I finished telling the stories about my travels.
The way I traveled, empowered me to pursue the quest of following my dream to become an activist in social matters.
There are different forms of activism, through art, politics, science, social media, comedy, entrepreneurship, and many others. My way is the latter.
The way we learn, it doesn’t matter. The most important is to become aware, to learn how the reality is, to comprehend what is far from our own experience.
To become aware, ignite our mind, trigger our thoughts is the first step to true comprehension.
Contemplation follows next, as according to Plato and Aristotles, “the soul may ascend to knowledge of the Form of the God or other divine Forms “so man can achieve its “highest activity on earth”.
The act of true observation, to gaze attentively, to practice the stillness of our thoughts allow us to understand life and living in their raw nature without being poisoned by our own human mind.
We must contemplate, within ourselves, in a moment of silence, so we can get closer to the deep understanding of living.
This new heading is my constantly evolving definitions on world most pressured problems. Such interpretations define the way I work, what I do and why I do, and they become a bible, so I never forget why I wake up in the morning.
Everybody’s business is a reminder we all must stand by each other, like no separation would exist, because the next one, can always be us.
Meaning of the word Refugee
Refugee — noun
ref·u·gee
People who were forced to flee due to war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country — According to UNHCR.
One that flees
A few weeks ago, when I was in the asylum center in Utrecht, I saw from far the sadness in his eyes. He was staring in an empty horizon drown in his most darkness thoughts. It was still day light, maybe a windy day, but he was there, standing still, against the wall drowned in his own despair.
I never saw him like this. He always walked to me with a beautiful smile, a politeness and respect typical from a Palestinian people and energized to participate in whatever I was doing.
I walked to him, but he barely looked at me this time. Clearly angry and upset, He stammered
“This isn’t fair. They steal our lives. We spend years waiting to be allowed to make decisions. Nobody deserves this.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first time I heard such thing. Just minutes before, someone else also told me “Every Sunday evening, I can’t sleep. I am always afraid to receive a letter on Monday morning informing me I will be deported”.
They all came a long way until today, to still be stand still on their feet. But it wasn’t always like this.
But, here, “we are just a number”.
Refugees always existed
Perhaps the most known racist and planned persecution of all times — the Holocaust — led nearly 340,000 of German and Austrian Jews to flee to other countries fearing the anti-Semitic movement led by Hitler. Jewish fled all over the world, namely Palestine, Shanghai, United States of America, Switzerland and Spain. Nevertheless, soon countries limited their quotas to the number of Jewish people entering the countries, making increasingly difficult for them to reach safe places.
Other conveniently forgotten refugees were the European protestants who fled to the United States to escape the religious persecution. In the 17th century, men and women refused to renounce their religious convictions, when the Catholics imposed one and only religion, viewed as the true religion. These refugees, called nonconformists could expect no mercy and execution if they wouldn’t follow the religion and rules of the church.
As long as intolerance, wars, the struggle for food and water, the lack of freedom of speech or natural disasters exist, there will always be people looking for better living conditions. This is the nature of human beings — to pursue a better life.
Since the beginning of mankind, there have always been people looking for means of subsistence or people looking to fight for their lives. If escaping is the only way to survive, then I will do it too.
The reasons
Religious/Social/Racial and/or Political Persecution
A. was threatened because he denied shortening the internet access to the population in Yemen.
N. never had papers because he was born in a country that doesn’t accept refugees. So, he had a land in his heart, but never on papers.
S. helped as a doctor in the war and now she is part of the exiled list to be sent to prison.
L. walked the mountains from Pakistan until Europe because she could not be a Muslim in her district.
War
One day, A. was walking with his friends towards the music school to attend the class in his little village in Syria, when the snippers showed up and shot his friend in the leg. After that, the rest is war.
Somewhere else, O. stayed in a room for one year, since it was the way his mother thought he could be protected from the same snippers, from the same war.
M. enrolled on an exchange program in Kyrgyzstan for Economical master students, in the meantime, Afghanistan, his home country became too dangerous to come back. Now, people tell him to apply for asylum, but he doesn’t even know how.
Gender/Sexual Orientation
A. was threatened by his father and the entire family because he could not date someone from his gender in Iran. So, he escaped.
Economy
S. walked from Venezuela to Ecuador with his family to escape the extreme poverty the country was facing.
Climate
Climate is not yet recognized as a reason to request asylum; however it is estimated that in the next 80 years 13 million people must be displaced from their homes situated in coastal areas.
The stories above are from people who I personally know, but every single person has its own story to tell. Although I categorize the reasons to smooth the understanding for the reader, each story entails different levels of challenges.
South Sudan erupted in street violence when the two factions of the government fought each other leaving the spread of violence around the country; the endless conflict between Palestine-Israel that expelled Palestinians from their homes; then the Rohinga people in Myanmar were faced with a campaign of “ethnic cleansing”; since 2010 Venezuela has been in an ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis marked by hyperinflation and driving the country to extreme poverty; the Arab spring in 2011 inspired pro-democracy activists in Syria which attracted rebels and terrorists leading to a deadly civil war; the Talibans took over Afghanistan in 2021 imposing rules against women rights and media freedom; now the war in Ukraine we are all watching.
We don’t forget all the other people from Nicarágua, Iran, Colombia, Eritrea, Somalia, Yemen, Rwanda among other countries who also face danger due to internal conflicts, dictatorships or extreme poverty.
The before life
Before living everything behind, life was good, with the ordinary pitfalls.
The now, asylum seekers, were having a normal life, until everything became unbearable. They were attending school, being hairdressers, marketing directors, helping a family business, doctors, or staying home taking care of the big family. They could practice their religion and culture, with the people they loved. Not everything was easy, life has always its own challenges, but it was good to be together with families and comfortable in their homes.
The dreams were the commons ones: education for the children, better jobs, more studies, to travel to new countries, to find love, to marry or to have a business.
Just like all of us.
Until the moment someone inside the family made the decision “we have to go”. They hoped they were putting something on hold to come back later to the lives they wished for, but the reality was much different.
Everything stops.
They have to start from zero, or I should say it better, they have to start from much further. From the point they need to survive, sometimes physically, and always mentally.
And this, it is just applicable for the ones who can afford to leave. Fleeing is not for everybody; it is for the ones who can pay for it.
Fleeing is expensive: new documentation, transportation, smugglers, food, accommodation and medical support if needed. People need to borrow money or use savings, otherwise it is not possible to leave. It can cost around 4000 EUR, but always differ from people to people.
The Asylum Procedure
Many leave by foot, walking through the mountains and paths with groups of strangers. The journey to finally feel safe takes months or years, some come alone, others with the entire family. Nothing makes it easy.
When they finally arrive at the destination, the best to hear is ”here, you are welcome!”.
Someone becomes a refugee when he/she arrives in an international border and asks asylum/protection, for example, in a police station. Or when people arrive at the borders and they can’t show a visa (the document that allows you to enter legally for a period in a country). When a person doesn’t have the visa, and explains he/she can’t come back to their homeland, the officials start filling what is called an asylum procedure.
Right after, people are accommodated in different locations within the country while they wait for a confirmation for the asylum request.
The Netherlands is one of the preferred destinations among asylum seekers. The Netherlands is considered an open country, with good facilities and social support for before and after the asylum procedure. People are welcoming and curious to new cultures; most people speak English and the society is respectful towards other religions and habits. It’s not heaven and not even the dreamland, but it’s a good option for people to live freely.
Freedom, a concept so many of us can’t really grasp, because we never lived without it.
The asylum seeker procedure can take years. When a person is denied in one country, meaning his/her process wasn’t accepted, he/she moves to other country and applies for a new asylum procedure. This is called the Dublin process.
1 in 95 people in the world fled from their homes.
The countries are overwhelmed with asylum procedures and bureaucracy. In the meantime, we see more countries with dictatorships, new conflicts arise, and the number of refugees increase by the minute.
The thin line between emigrating and fleeing
Becoming a refugee is not a status to envy. There is nothing glamorous about leaving in a camp, without money and any power to decide what to do tomorrow. The wait is uncertain, unfair, inhumane.
“I had to leave my identity behind. I can’t even tell the story under my own name. Here, I am number. “
The long process finishes when they get the permit and are given a house and the permit to stay.
But that it is just the beginning of a long process of integration and feeling home again, without never forgetting who they really are.
I am learning with them and from them . The only thing I can do, it is to listen attentively and try to understand what they want to say.
Words can’t express, words will never be enough. We may use art, music, poems, literature, paintings, photographs and movies to try to explain what only the heart can see.
What can I do?
How would you like to feel when you are a stranger somewhere?
Recognized, seen, accepted and welcome.
People who are fleeing their homes carry often past - traumas and negative experiences that shape their well-being today. Recognizing those hurdles is respecting people’s suffering and the consequences that come with it.
Refugees are not a category of people, instead, a legal status that allows people to stay in a country. That status hides dreams, talents and real human beings. We must see them beyond the status. We must not look at the status, but at those talents and dreams that can help our society to improve. When we accept someone, we create a space for them to express who they are, so the world transforms along with them.
And the ultimate welcome step is to move outside of our comfort zone and support the new neighbors to get settled in their new home.
Teach them your language. Invite them for a coffee. Give them tips to get settled. Be curious about their culture. And always smile back.
June 20th, 2022
Patricia Assis
