There is no doubt that the refugee crisis is a global problem. The gravity of the problem soared and it’s almost instinctive to speak of it in structural terms which can obviously be a justified approach. However I have been bemused at an often ignored aspect of the refugee phenomena.
Each individual is a universe. We definitely share multitudinous features with one another. From a shared Country to colleagues at work to family and friends but each one of us is unique. The worrying issue is that narrative has been reduced to numbers. Often conversations about the problem are heuristics and express the crisis in general terms. Growing up in Garissa county which houses Dadaab refugee camp, I have seen first hand the individuals in the crisis. Thinking it was just a problem in my part of the world, I came to Turkey and again the world conversations on the refugee crisis have always been a general obsession with the structural set up of the whole crisis. Through this penchant for generalities the refugee people find themselves in, the individual person is concealed and their agency taken away.
Each individual is a universe.
This lost notion of the individual is hidden in the simple identification of their identity as refugees. While it’s true this is part of their identity, I have always believed there is more beneath the surface of this broad subsumming. From Dadaab, I have seen the vulnerability of being a refugee woman, I have seen aspiring footballers within them with hope of making it out of their current situation, I have seen guitarists and singers, I came across children, mothers and fathers. I crossed paths with bright smart students, writers and poets.
Refugees around the world are bedeviled by similar circumstances that create their condition and leave them at the mercy of societies that are all too often unwelcoming or altogether hostile. The rise of intolerance and barriers between people from towards refugees coupled with the ease to politically use the refugee crisis as a jump up to office by politicians makes for a dangerous and unforgiving global situation.
The rise of intolerance and barriers between people from towards refugees coupled with the ease to politically use the refugee crisis as a jump up to office by politicians makes for a dangerous and unforgiving global situation.
It’s thus imperative to move the refugee crisis conversation from just a structural analysis to the human and individual analysis. Harnessing the stories of each individual is paramount to moving the crisis from a conversation point to a solutions debate. Stories are vital to me. Stories shape our lives. Stories invoke memories. Stories have the power to end the dehumanization of refugees and victims of conflict.
Through the individual stories of each and every refugee we can deliver a wholesome picture of the crisis to societies and help create a more open society that welcomes refugees. Through this individual analysis rather just numbers however vital they are we will be able to harness our universal strengths and bridge our presumed differences as we emphasize our common humanity and spread peace and love rather than erect walls between ourselves.