To be a refugee

Thursday was World Refugee Day- a day to commemorate the 10.5 million refugees in the world. This number continues to grow with the Syrian crisis as there is a new refugee every 4 seconds. But who are these people? The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) defines a refugee as one who has fled his or her country due to a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” and thus is unable to return. As this is the case, they are left vulnerable as they are dependent upon other countries to provide protection which they can no longer find in their homelands. This leads to a whole new struggle of finding new housing and jobs, often learning a new language, facing unwelcoming natives, negotiating a new set of systems, all in a place that is not home.

At work we coordinated a function to remember the refugees in South Africa as well as in the world who struggle dealing not only with their past, but trying to negotiate whatever their new situation is. We remembered their flight by a walk done together and then celebrated their displaced heritages by song and dance.

As I reflected on the significance of this day as well as on the many stories I have heard of refugees from many different backgrounds, I wrote a poem to relate pieces of stories I have heard:

The place I call home

Is suddenly gone

Torn by hate and by war

The place I once loved

I can no longer stay

I must flee that my life may be spared

In the blink of an eye

All I once knew

Is filled with terror and strife

Where peace once had reigned,

Now the sword was the king

And has taken many a life

My brother is missing

my sister is gone

an orphan cries softly at night

I fled in the dark

Fearing what lay behind

yet hoped for what was ahead

Could I find peace

In a new strange land

Rest for so weary a soul

Now here will I stay

As I muddle through life

Finding my place in this land

Only God knows

If I’ll ever go home,

But till then, here it must be