I also forgot to mention that this Sunday is World Refugee Day.
I feel very global village at the moment. Really, while leaving Canada is really when I feel the most Canadian, the ceremony yesterday, seeing people from so many places really made the Global Village a reality for me.
This morning on the metro I was feeling particularly perky. (this could be the result of pillow that I recently purchased, which is significantly improving my sleeping abilities, and subsequent outlook on life). At any rate, I decided to accept a daily Hungarian Metro Newspaper, which is offered rather intensely to me every morning, and flip through it. I can’t read much of it, but sometimes there is a good ratio of pictures to words, so I can learn some new ones . Or at least see news stories that may actually be worth me finding in English.
(Today actually, on a side note, I flipped to the world cup FIFA update and learned the Hungarian names of Countries. My favourite was Uj Zéland. Primarily because Uj means new in Hungarian, and well I have completely associated the work Uj with new products at the grocery store, or new flavour of chips (you know how they market new things at stores with big fat stickers that say NEW?, until today, I have associated Uj with the big fat sticker, not the word itself). Anyway, when I first read Uj Zéland, I well, thought of New Zealand, and then thought of new branding stickers on chip bags, then thought about a country with a huge NEW sticker on it....then waited for my brain to accommodate (not assimilate to use the correct a psychological reference) the new meaning of UJ into my mind….sometimes living in a foreign language really takes you back to rudimentary language learning strategies akin to those that kids use when learning their first language. A process which is riddled with confusing moments such as this…. )
At any rate, flipping through the metro, I stopped on a page with an Advertisement from the UNHCR. Being an international affairs student, my life is consumed by acronyms. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is no exception. I had never seen advertisements for the UNHCR before, and well this one was just so great, I cut it out when I got to work and put it on my bulletin board.
The ad is about the size of vertical postcard. It is macro-style photography with two children (who are in focus) in the front of the frame and presumably, their mothers blurred in the back. Of the two mothers, one is Muslim, then other white European. Both are sitting on the same bench, but they are looking in opposite directions, their bodies are about 60 degrees apart (so they aren’t back to back, they are just sitting away from one another). The details on their faces are blurred, and no real emotions of any kind can be seen. Then, in the sandbox, in clear focus are two children about 2 or 3 years old. They are presumably the children of the two mothers.
The two kids have their hands reached out to one another, with one of them visibly offering a toy to the other. Think kindergarden kids who are learning how to share. It is such a stark contrast from the mothers in the background. It is really shocking. The only thing I could read in Hungarian was ‘Június 20’, which means June 20th. I noticed the UNHCR logo, so I knew it must be associated with Refugees, regardless of the text, it is a great photo. When I got to work, I translated the rest of the text. It read :
“World Refugee Day”
Confidence, openness, dialogue, acceptance, respect, cohabitation
I feel very global village at the moment. Really, while leaving Canada is really when I feel the most Canadian, the ceremony yesterday, seeing people from so many places really made the Global Village a reality for me.
This morning on the metro I was feeling particularly perky. (this could be the result of pillow that I recently purchased, which is significantly improving my sleeping abilities, and subsequent outlook on life). At any rate, I decided to accept a daily Hungarian Metro Newspaper, which is offered rather intensely to me every morning, and flip through it. I can’t read much of it, but sometimes there is a good ratio of pictures to words, so I can learn some new ones . Or at least see news stories that may actually be worth me finding in English.
(Today actually, on a side note, I flipped to the world cup FIFA update and learned the Hungarian names of Countries. My favourite was Uj Zéland. Primarily because Uj means new in Hungarian, and well I have completely associated the work Uj with new products at the grocery store, or new flavour of chips (you know how they market new things at stores with big fat stickers that say NEW?, until today, I have associated Uj with the big fat sticker, not the word itself). Anyway, when I first read Uj Zéland, I well, thought of New Zealand, and then thought of new branding stickers on chip bags, then thought about a country with a huge NEW sticker on it....then waited for my brain to accommodate (not assimilate to use the correct a psychological reference) the new meaning of UJ into my mind….sometimes living in a foreign language really takes you back to rudimentary language learning strategies akin to those that kids use when learning their first language. A process which is riddled with confusing moments such as this…. )
At any rate, flipping through the metro, I stopped on a page with an Advertisement from the UNHCR. Being an international affairs student, my life is consumed by acronyms. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is no exception. I had never seen advertisements for the UNHCR before, and well this one was just so great, I cut it out when I got to work and put it on my bulletin board.
The ad is about the size of vertical postcard. It is macro-style photography with two children (who are in focus) in the front of the frame and presumably, their mothers blurred in the back. Of the two mothers, one is Muslim, then other white European. Both are sitting on the same bench, but they are looking in opposite directions, their bodies are about 60 degrees apart (so they aren’t back to back, they are just sitting away from one another). The details on their faces are blurred, and no real emotions of any kind can be seen. Then, in the sandbox, in clear focus are two children about 2 or 3 years old. They are presumably the children of the two mothers.
The two kids have their hands reached out to one another, with one of them visibly offering a toy to the other. Think kindergarden kids who are learning how to share. It is such a stark contrast from the mothers in the background. It is really shocking. The only thing I could read in Hungarian was ‘Június 20’, which means June 20th. I noticed the UNHCR logo, so I knew it must be associated with Refugees, regardless of the text, it is a great photo. When I got to work, I translated the rest of the text. It read :
“World Refugee Day”
Confidence, openness, dialogue, acceptance, respect, cohabitation
So, in addition to Canadian Father’s Day, this Sunday also take a moment to think about the work of the UNHCR, and well all those displaced people in the world, trying to rebuild their lives, and create a future for themselves, and their children.
How coincidental that I should read this after meeing a refugee in the hostel in Paris. THe man studied law in England a number of years ago and has been trying to get back from Cameroon. He has been unable to obtain a VIsa for England, so he has decided to travel to Ireland instead. I find it awe inspiring to meet those who have left everything behind in search of freedom.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts and appreciation go to my two Serbian families who left their country in search of a better life for themselves and their families. Our family has been blessed to know them.
In France there is freedom except if you are a tourist who stumbles into a hotel from which you are tossed... Le Carillon, except when you go to information at Pere Lachaise and they yell at you when you ask... Ou est Maria Callas? And you get out out not for you, you go over there and decendes! or if you duck into the Publicis blg on the Champs-Elysee, use the coffee machine and then are told that you must leave it is forbidden for you to be here!
Of course there is no shortage of men and women with machine guns in Paris to ensure that everyone knows their place.
I cannot comprehend what life must be for refugees who here this all the time when all that is wanted is the basic human right... confidence,freedom,acceptance, respect, openess,dialogue and cohabitation.
So do you say happy refugee day? Or just pray for all refugees that they may find freedom?