Until you touch the pulse and understand the plight of individuals who are marginalized or have been thrust into unspeakable circumstances they never wanted to be in, one cannot be so judgemental about a person’s unfortunate situation they never thought possible. After I finished reading the third book on the list for the 2024North Carolina Readsstatewide book club, American Refuge by Diya Abdo, Ph.D., there was a deep sense of sadness that sunk into my spirit after reading about real people, real refugees, and their heartbreaking stories as they fled danger and death from their countries. Almost every day we hear or read something in the news about people escaping horrifying conditions to find a place of acceptance and refuge for themselves and their families. Thank you NCHumanities for including this selection on the reading list, so we can raise our level of awareness and understanding of those who seek a safe place for resettlement.
I am pleased to share a portion of my review of Diya Abdo’s book regarding support for refugee resettlement in the U.S. She is the founder of Every Campus A Refuge (ECAR) on the campus of Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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Anybody can become a refugee.
The terms refugee, immigrant, migrant, asylum seeker, and undocumented are used interchangeably, and the conflating terms result in ideological stances that have real and negative consequences. This ideological framework gets extended to refugees fermented by the political rhetoric that can forcibly displace individuals seeking succor at our borders as bad. Such dangerous linguistic cries ‘worthy of extermination’.
If we would put ourselves in the shoes of a refugee, having to flee a home that we love but has become dangerous, hostile, and deadly, we would understand the barriers we would face if we sought a safe haven in a new country foreign to us. We couldn’t comprehend the scope of adjusting to ‘everything’ new.
Human beings have always moved – and they have done so largely to survive. The story of human migration is twin to the story of humanity. This book left me in a pool of tears. The stories compiled by Diya Abdo are real. The refugees featured in this book once lived in homes and countries they loved but left against their will to relocate to foreign territory which was never something they chose to do. There are cases where one can be a refugee in their own country. One does not always become a refugee, many times they are born a refugee.
Diya Abdo introduces us to refugees who carried trauma by reluctantly leaving their homes, families, and countries and relocating to new homes, which led to cultural misunderstandings as they resettled in the United States. The stories of the seven refugees who were welcomed by an organization Diya founded, Every Campus A Refuge (ECAR) which leveraged resources at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Not everyone is welcoming of the influx of refugees who have been exiled. It is horrible that those who have become refugees have been racialized. To flee your home country to save your life and that of your family because of your race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion is traumatic. Having no idea what to expect on the other side of their long, arduous journey is difficult, scary, and exhausting for these newcomers.
Diya Abdo, Ph.D., Founder of Every Campus A Refuge
The arrogance of assumptions does not recognize the challenges refugees face when they first arrive in a new place or country where language barriers make it even more difficult. Mistreatment, abuse, exploitation, and racism are elements that leave them feeling traumatized and helpless. The story of human migration is twin to the story of humanity. This book brings those faces of escape and hope to look at our hearts and allow our empathy and compassion to overflow with understanding. You can pick up your copy of American Refuge on Amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble. You can also follow Diya on Facebook or Emerson Collective.
From Behind the Pen 