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Post by rikita on Oct 30, 2015 23:18:18 GMT
thanks for the article, bixa, it makes me sad to think of those kids (and really, also those that are legally adults but just 18 or 19 are also still kids), and wondering how the trauma will affect them for the rest of their lifes ...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2015 2:01:11 GMT
Last night I read a lengthy report in a recent New Yorker about one man's painstaking journey out of Serbia and then finally on to Sweden. It was so depressing. And, he is just one..with not too much end in sight and wintertime. Makes me really count my blessings.
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Post by questa on Oct 31, 2015 6:53:34 GMT
It sounds trivial, but food is such an intrinsic part of the Louisiana culture, that many New Orleanians became severely depressed and even died, because they just couldn't eat what everybody else was used to. I think it's a lot easier to cope with weather and temporary housing instead of having major changes in fundamental things like food. After a massive eruption of a volcano in Bali a generation ago, there was no rice to eat and many were starving. The Government in Java sent over tons of corn as relief. It was not the sweetcorn that the Balinese use as a snack but heavy corn. Many people died from eating it as their stomachs could not digest it, even when pounded to a flour. The Javanese had no problem with it...the Balinese believe the heavy corn was sent deliberately to reduce the population in Bali.
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Post by chexbres on Oct 31, 2015 9:15:17 GMT
I'll admit that during Katrina, when we were exiled to a tiny town in deepest Alabama for 3 months, and I was stuck there most of the time alone without a car, I had a really tough time trying to find anything decent to eat in the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. I distinctly remember when someone brought home breakfast sausage - which was almost completely white, due to the fat/meat ratio. By the end of our exile, we were all pretty much suicidal or homicidal, and it's possible that someone was just trying to end it all and go out in a blaze of cholesterol, but after it was cooked, it was so disgusting that nobody dared eat it.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2015 15:44:59 GMT
Having somehow missed reading the previous page, I did not realize Chexbres, that you were a Katrina refugee or whatever name was relegated to those in your situation. We were fortunate to be able to take refuge in NY at my mother's house where we were wined and dined, given expensive new clothes etc. Despite all that my husband who is a native New Orleanian was inconsolable, glued to CNN etc. as he watched the catastrophe unfold. I did hear many, many stories from folks that were exiled in places where they indeed did suffer from the unavailabilty of the food you mention.
On a separate note, I will PM you with regard to how to best make a monetary donation toward the European refugees. Thank you for availing yourself.
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Post by rikita on Oct 31, 2015 23:00:28 GMT
when my grandma and i were visiting people in a deportation prison (was through a church group that was protesting against the imprisonment of people who had done no wrong other than seek asylum and having been refused but not sent back), we often brought things like fruit or rice or cooking ingredients. they had access to a kitchen in there, but of course you need things to cook with, and the food they were fed from the prison was standard german food. the women we visited sometimes talked about how they had no idea what some of the things were, and that they tasted strange ...
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 11, 2015 15:24:36 GMT
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Post by rikita on Nov 27, 2015 15:10:22 GMT
thanks for the link to the graphic novels ... still waiting for the third one, but the first two were interesting ...
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 27, 2015 17:41:34 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2015 17:50:42 GMT
Here is part of the queue at the refugee centre that I pass every day in my neighbourhood. It's about twice as long as you can see here, because it bends around the block and goes up another street. Obviously, I was only able to take a photo at a discreet distance.
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Post by rikita on Nov 27, 2015 22:37:41 GMT
are the authorities there better at helping people who wait outside in the cold? here, as everyone has to draw a number at 9 a.m., and the numbers per day are limited, people (including whole families with small children) often camp out at the registration office from the middle of the night, and most of the help (food, blankets, even toilets) they get are provided by volunteers, and are far from enough - the city seems unable or unwilling to organize some more humane type of waiting area, or help people to find a place to stay at night (remembering your photos of people sleeping on the streets, i'd guess that part is similar there) ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 27, 2015 22:39:05 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2015 23:09:49 GMT
are the authorities there better at helping people who wait outside in the cold? here, as everyone has to draw a number at 9 a.m., and the numbers per day are limited, people (including whole families with small children) often camp out at the registration office from the middle of the night, and most of the help (food, blankets, even toilets) they get are provided by volunteers, and are far from enough - the city seems unable or unwilling to organize some more humane type of waiting area, or help people to find a place to stay at night (remembering your photos of people sleeping on the streets, i'd guess that part is similar there) ... This place deals with people who are already registered, mostly. In fact, about two weeks ago they posted a notice that they were not accepting new people "until further notice." I don't know where the "new people" have to go now. Most of the people in this particular queue are coming to pick up administrative mail, since it serves as a mailing address for them for dealing with the French government and the health authorities. They also come to pick up their housing vouchers to give to the hotels where they are being lodged. In the past, when they were dealing with a lot of new arrivals, I saw lots of young people leaving with things like toiletry kits, but I haven't seen that for a long time. Even though you can only see their backs in the photo, one thing that seems confirmed is that only the wealthier people can afford to become refugees, because they are always well dressed with nice clothes, good quality coats and new shoes. And they all have mobile phones. The only people I see who are dressed "poorly" are the Chinese.
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Post by rikita on Nov 27, 2015 23:23:15 GMT
i think the fact that even just getting to europe is very expensive (and thus not possible for the poorest) is part of the reason - but on the other hand, my observation in countries with a lot of poor people was, that often the poorer people (though i guess maybe not those that were so poor they barely had a shirt to wear) still dressed surprisingly well. i suppose they often value the clothes they have more than people here do, and thus take better care of them ... with the mobile phones, lots of people here like to say "oh, they aren't really poor, they don't really need help, because they got mobile phones", but i suppose phones are one of the easier things to take along if you flee from soemwhere (because they fit in your pocket) and at the same time are often the only possibility to keep in touch with your loved ones ...
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Post by questa on Nov 28, 2015 3:01:05 GMT
rikita, in developing countries there is often no telephone infrastructure as we know it. Calls are made from little offices scattered around and people call in to see if there are messages for them. Rather than build a 21st century landline system, Indonesia has very low cost mobile phone plans. It is as though they have leap-frogged from no phones to latest technology without going through the 'ladies running a switchboard' to 'party lines' to 'cordless phones' stages that we travelled.
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Post by rikita on Nov 28, 2015 9:08:08 GMT
yes, that could be another reason for a lot of people from poorer countries having mobile phones ...
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Post by rikita on Dec 17, 2015 13:31:17 GMT
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Post by htmb on Dec 17, 2015 15:00:14 GMT
Powerful, moving, and very thought provoking.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2015 17:29:15 GMT
There is a new cruel comedy about to be released in France about the government obliging people with huge apartments to take in refugees during a cold snap.
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Post by rikita on Dec 17, 2015 23:06:08 GMT
i shouldn't read comments under news articles. makes me so sad and angry how a lot of people talk ...
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Post by lagatta on Dec 19, 2015 15:06:37 GMT
Rikita, CBC/Radio-Canada has banned comments on Indigenous issues for that reason.
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Post by rikita on Dec 19, 2015 22:47:39 GMT
the problem is that even without reading i know there are many people who think like that ... and i can't understand why ... how can someone think that other people have no right to a dignified life, or even to mere survival? how can someone believe that they, in the same situation and given the same choices, wouldn't likely do the very same thing?
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Post by rikita on Dec 19, 2015 23:23:27 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 20, 2015 3:58:36 GMT
Thank you, Rikita, I guess. That is very difficult to read, especially realizing that those tragic stories are the tiniest tip of an iceberg of sadness.
I know what you mean about reading comments under news stories, or anywhere, really, even youtube videos. It's like the earth opens to show meanness and hatred.
I wonder if people who rail against refugees ever stop to think about this: Even if every single refugee left his or her country with lots of luggage and money and luxury accommodations and arrived somewhere to a nice house, they would still prefer to be in their own countries, with their own culture and everything familiar and loved.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2016 17:36:04 GMT
The Schengen "free movement" zone is going through difficult times at the moment, because today Belgium became the 7th member of the zone to reinstate border controls (with France) in view of the refugee situation. France is closing the "jungles" in Calais and in Grande Synthe and has also made passage to England almost impossible except for migrants able to pay 4000-6000 euros to the facilitators. So many migrants have been going to Oostende to try to sneak on ferries there.
I don't know if the United Kingdom should be proud or terrified to be such a magnet for these groups, but from what I have read, it is not at all a paradise for refugees (except for not having obligatory identity cards), and many of us are perplexed at the idea of the UK being an El Dorado for all of these people. (We very much understand why the other countries of Europe -- including Germany -- are not really attractive to them.)
This is still the biggest refugee movement in Europe since WW2, and I personally do not understand why so many countries have taken the situation so lightly, particularly in terms of thinking "if we ignore it, it will go away." Yet, even though the number of refugees seems huge, they still only represent 0.5% of the population of the EU. If we are as big and powerful as we always claim to be, why are we so scared of them?
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Post by mossie on Feb 23, 2016 21:00:05 GMT
This is a very complicated question. We are glad of a lot of immigrants, our hospitals in particular seem to have almost half the staff as immigrants from Africa Asia and Europe. But there are big problems with overcrowding in schools and hospitals and doctors surgeries, getting appointments can be very difficult. Housing is where there are real difficulties and great tensions. There seems to be a bush telegraph among migrants that UK is the place to be, housing and benefits are handed out like confetti they believe. Our locals believe that immigrants get preference and that causes animosity. Racial tensions are exacerbated by the ISIS threat which simply adds another layer of problems.
What has now caused more upset is the negotiations which Cameron has half heartedly carried out, seriously underplaying what should have been a strong hand and eventually achieving 100% of damn all.
Angular Markel has upset the apple cart by promising a place to all comers, so now Europe is being swamped. I can see the Schengen business being quietly dismantled.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2016 16:20:02 GMT
The lines keep getting longer and longer at the refugee centre around the corner...
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Post by lugg on Apr 8, 2016 17:45:49 GMT
My son's girlfriend and her father have recently spent time in the Dunkirk camps helping support the teachers there to improve the educational facilities for the children. She took some photos but this one particularly struck me ...so poignant
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2016 20:33:52 GMT
Aylan has almost been forgotten, but now we have a new little boy to remind us of the insufficiency of our interest in the situation. The still photo of Omran has gone around the world, but how many people have seen the full video where he wipes blood from his face and tries to clean his hand on the upholstery?
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Post by lagatta on Aug 19, 2016 21:52:59 GMT
I have, and the explanation was "triage". Although his situation is awful, other people are also being dug out of the rubble, and there are people with far more serious wounds. In battle situations, those with serious but treatable wounds are attended to first, the dying are left to die (including people who could be saved in places with advanced medical care) and the less seriously wounded have to wait, even small children and frail elders.
Syria was a country with good medical care overall, but it has been destroyed with the rest of the physical and social infrastructure.
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