| Hello jay,
In honor of World Refugee Day, over the course of this week I’m sharing with you conversations I had with four of our team members who traveled across the globe to speak to refugees who are living in the reality of the Global Refugee Crisis. The following is an excerpt from a conversation I had with Tharangi Cumaranatunge, who visited refugees in Turkey. Tharangi is the Finance Controller at ARC and is based in Minneapolis. -Daniel ******************************************************* What was the most surprising thing you learned on this trip? I was surprised at the contrasting lenses with which I saw this crisis unraveling. I didn’t anticipate the empathy and admiration that I would feel for host communities in Turkey who are trying to do the right thing by everyone. For example, we met a Turkish man in a seaside town called Bodrum whose livelihood in tourism had been badly affected by the crisis. Despite his reservations, he felt a deep empathy toward refugees and the struggles they’re going through. He, and other Turkish people we met, were stepping up and embracing the idea that regardless of the political complications, these are human beings going through great suffering, and that we can and should do what we can to help them. They were acutely aware that they were witness to something unprecedented, and how they responded in this moment in time would define their own humanity. I felt for this man and his community, and admired his resolution to retain his compassion for others. This is a complicated situation for everyone involved with often conflicting viewpoints. But, it’s less complicated if you see refugees as mothers, daughters, sisters, brothers, as people with stories of their own. Who was the most inspiring person that you met? Why? Probably the most inspiring person I met in Turkey was a young Syrian named Mahmoud, whose resilience and courage was amazing. He’s the kind of guy who could make it anywhere. Mahmoud is the oldest of eight children – five of his siblings are with him in Turkey, and his two youngest siblings, are still with his parents, stuck inside Syria. He told me that he wakes up every morning gripped with fear of what might happen to his folks back in Syria. He is not frightened for himself he tells me. He’s tried to make it to Greece seven times by boat, each journey a treacherous one that has almost cost him his life. He persists because he feels responsible for his family, for helping them to survive. He has embraced his present life in Turkey and is busy making a living to support his family and is also actively involved with an organization that supports Syrian refugee families in Turkey, spreading hope for the future and extending goodwill to all those he comes across. He has figured out how to overcome disappointment and fear and to rise above it all, by serving others who’s needs are greater than his own. In this way he has made a life for himself. Despite all the uncertainties that the future holds, he gets back on his feet – for his family – time and time again. Assuming no barriers, if you could do or change one thing for the refugees you met, what would it be and why? People feel like their voices are lost – like they’re part of a nameless crowd, not individuals. Like they’re just a number. I couldn’t help thinking, how might we change that? I would love to create a way where the abundance of people who want to help – like the Turkish people we met, the international volunteers, and the global community at large - could get connected on an individual, people to people basis to help those who need it most. The child, the sister, the brother – their needs are different, so it’s difficult to have one blanket approach. In a perfect world, I would create a smart and effective way to retain the individualism and humanness of each person and still connect people in a meaningful way.
[stay tuned this week for more conversations: http://www.arcrelief.org/wrdqanda]
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