Looking out for each other in uncertain times
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LIVING WITH UNCERTAINTY: LESSON 5
Lessons we can learn from the refugee experience |
| This week, we bring you the next instalment of our Living With Uncertainty series, which focuses on the importance of looking out for those around us during difficult times. In this email, you'll find an inspirational account of how refugees in Niger are doing just that - by working together to protect their community against the threat of coronavirus. |
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| We hope you have enjoyed some of the insights we’ve shared with you to date through this thought-provoking series. Thank you for continuing to provide support to refugees and displaced people during these challenging times. |
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Dear Supporter,
It may well be that the best thing we can do to help ourselves, is to reach out and help someone else.
Is there anyone, anywhere in the world who is not under strain at the moment? From the richest countries to the poorest, none of us is unaffected. I can imagine you are in lockdown right now, like so many of us right around the world. Perhaps separated from many of the people who are dearest to you.
That’s why I want to say to you what I am saying to the refugees I work with. ‘You are the hero. Because by staying put you’re going to save my life. And by me staying put, I’m going to save your life’. |
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In other words, it’s by looking out for each other that we’re going to get through this. And actually, looking out for others can be the greatest reward of all.
In our last email, Maya talked about how she turned her life around after fleeing the conflict in Syria and arriving in the UK. She taught herself a new language and got herself into a school. But it was when she started helping a charity, that she really turned the corner. |
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| ‘That was my turning point. I felt I could make a difference and make a change. Now I try and do that for other people.’ |
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| Reaching out to help and support others has become a cornerstone of Maya’s life. |
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| ‘Whether it’s women or refugees or anyone who feels any less of themselves. I want them to feel that all their hard work is going to pay off – the way mine has.’ |
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| Right now in Niger, the refugee communities I work with are also finding that the best way to support themselves is to support each other. They are at risk from coronavirus, just as you and I are. Perhaps even more so, as many of them are living in crowded camps with little or no medical provision. |
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But together with me and my team, they have decided to give back to the country of Niger.
We have decided to transform ourselves into soap makers. The soap we make together will provide a vital line of defence against the virus that is undoubtedly coming. A defence we can share throughout our community.
And that’s just the start. We’re also going to make bricks. When some of our refugees fall sick and need a safe place to self-isolate, our bricks will build it. |
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This solidarity and kindness in the refugees I work with is both humbling and inspiring.
These are people who have lost everything and endured the most unimaginable suffering, often seeing their villages burned to the ground by armed and masked men. Now, like the rest of us, they’re facing a new threat. The threat of coronavirus. And yet all their focus is on helping each other. On protecting their neighbours and rebuilding their community.
These are dark times indeed. But as Maya has shown us, and as the thousands of refugees here in Niger show me every day, there is a way through. |
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| ‘Here I am, little me with my basic English, studying Aviation Engineering and aiming to become the first ever female Syrian refugee pilot. Now I want to share it with people. Because everyone can do what I am doing and do it better. You can move mountains if you want to.’ |
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| So look around. Is there somebody you might be able to help right now? After all, there are certainly some mountains that need moving in the world today. So let’s stick together. Let’s look out for one another. And let’s get it done. |
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Yours in solidarity,
Alessandra Morelli
UNHCR Representative, Niger
P.S. I do hope you have found these emails helpful. Over the coming weeks we will be sharing further reflections and insights from many more refugees. Having had to guide themselves and their families through uncertain times, these are people who have already faced many of the challenges the rest of us are now coming up against. From caring for the elderly to staying connected during times of separation, their experiences can be a support to us all. |
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You can find out about our work protecting refugees during the coronavirus crisis by clicking the button below. |
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