Conversations about refuge

African feminist Warsan Shire opens her poem “Conversations about Home” by saying: “Well, I think home spat me out.”

According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, an unprecedented 68.5 million people around the world have been forced from home, among them 40 million people are internally displaced and nearly 25.4 million are refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18.

On 4 December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 55/76 decided that, from 2001, June 20 would be renowned as World Refugee Day.

With that being said, it seems as if in light of mass media consumption, we fail to take a moment to contemplate that refugees are humans who had their own lives. They might have been mothers, school children, workers, elderly or people with disabilities. Keeping this notion in mind could allow members of host communities to exercise qualities of tolerance and acceptance more promptly, this does not suggest that host communities do not exercise these qualities at all, it is only to emphasise that the mental, physical, financial and political distress that refugees are submerged under must be taken into consideration at all times.

Their journeys unquestionably were dangerous, petrifying and heartbreaking. Dire winter or blazing summer conditions, living in tents, lack of financial resources, gender-based violence, absence of timely and specialised medical care, children out of school for years which will affect entire generations, mental trauma among all age and gender groups, and destroyed livelihoods. In addition, the struggle to assimilate with host communities, possible language barriers and persecution become the new reality of refugees for an unknown period of time, ultimately a lifetime maybe.

The mental trauma of a general population caused by homelessness, poverty and other factors is not easy, particularly after witnessing the horrors of fleeing wars and natural disasters. It is worthy to mention that the results are dreadful to both parties, refugees and host communities. Refugees go through what has been mentioned above. By the same token, host communities face economic difficulties, change in the demographic, social behaviour and an overload on services and infrastructure.

Therefore, we must remain sympathetic and proactive in helping the vulnerable, reminding ourselves again and again, that refugees are humans just like us and have the right to a dignified life, accompanied by the will to work together selflessly towards greater good and the dignity of mankind. We should try to put ourselves in their shoes.

The writer works in media and communications for an international humanitarian institution. She contributed this article to The Jordan Times