Can you walk a mile in a refugee’s shoes?
By Diana Mavunduse
Not knowing or understanding someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes is a cliché often used in different cultures world-wide.
Jumping over barbed wires, navigating through landmines, losing family and friends, children crying for their mothers, wives separated from their husbands, women sexually assaulted, food rationings, feeling powerless, not accepted because of religious, political and sexual orientation, packed like sardines in refugee camps, losing all belongings, walking all night and sleeping by day, arriving in a new country all confused, language barriers and feeling homesick—These are just a few anecdotes of the hardships faced daily by refugees world-wide as they flee their homes to seek refuge in other countries. Some make it across, but others have lost their lives trying to cross the borders to safety.
Sadly the refugee and asylum seekers’ story does not always end in them having made it across to freedom. For most, their struggle to survive continues in the countries they would have settled, where they are subjected to prejudice and misunderstandings. They are targeted being foreigners, viewed economic migrants and perceived as a threat to national security in some cases.
Canada has a long tradition of welcoming refugees. Since World War 2, over 700,000 individuals have been offered protection and have become a valued part of the Canada’s fabric and cultural mosaic. Their economic contributions are also well documented.
It is therefore worrying that the continued misunderstandings and discriminations against refugee’s and asylum seekers overshadows the immense contributions that migrants have long made to Canadian culture and its economy. It is partly for this reason that the organizers for the Toronto World Refugee Day celebrations are calling upon all Torontonians to come out in their numbers on Sat. June 20, 2009 to “Walk a Mile in a Refugee’s shoes” and to experience first hand refugees issues through music, poetry and story telling.
The Refugee Walk is a way of challenging Torontonians “to walk the symbolic mile as a way of raising public awareness of the plight of refugees world-wide and also celebrate the resilience and contributions of those refugees who have made it across the borders and now call Canada their home,” said Prince Sibanda, Coordinator for Toronto World Refugee Day Celebrations Committee.
The organizers also see the day as a way of delivering positive educational messages that counter fear, ignorance and negative stereotypes of refugees and to promote understanding about refugee issues in Toronto and Canada as a whole.