Thursday, September 10, 2015

Refugees

Before becoming a bonetaire, I worked for years in medical emergency aid and for the Dutch Refugee Council. These days, with 100.000's on the run, I find it hard to believe the work I'm doing now is only slightly as useful as I did then; what's the point of selling berets (cars, clothes, books, wine, whatever) when others are only trying to remain alive (and keep their children alive)?
Colleague and friend Peter in Bosnia 1994
It is very easy to get depressed by what we witness these days. 

UN observers Syria
And while Germany takes refugees in by the 100.000's, countries in the region like Turkey and Lebanon are overwhelmed by mind boggling numbers, our (NZ) prime minister, son of a refugee himself, just announced the country will take in an extra 600 Syrian refugees over the next few years, on top of our yearly quota of 750... "We don't want to stretch the system any further". 
It is embarrassing... Good to know that part of SPB's proceeds goes to organisations like ChangeMakers and Refugee Trauma Recovery
Meanwhile, I can only hope that we don't dress up as Syrian refugees at parties in a few years time, like a girl's WWII refugee outfit with beret available on Amazon

1 comment: