Refugees or cows? That is the problem!

I’ll try to explain the meaning of this picture:

I found that picture in that site: http://members.rogers.com/refugeeconnection/pic.html and they wrote under:

“There is no way to properly explain this picture.”

I have the explanation! It’s not hard to find the explanation if you are a refugee! I’m a refugee for more than 7 years by now, I’m using the net for more than 4 years by now. I was interesting to know more about refugees in the world by using the net, I did much search on the net for what mean to be a refugee and what I found made me sick and feel humiliation to see the refugee is mean one thing; an animal running away looking for a shelter and a plate of food, or if he lucky enough he will have a blue tent and a blue blanket and maybe to be a prisoner in a camp. This is a disgusting picture for some thing was very noble concept in the human traditions through the history before creating the UNHCR.

As I'm refugee lived in Lebanon for many years, I told my personal story in part 1 of this chapter. After my experience with UNHCR at 1996, I felt deep humiliation because of the way that they dealt with me. For many years after I didn't go to the office of UNHCR in Beirut, I even wasn't like much to walk in the street where the office located. At that time I was living in very situation and I tried to depend on myself, but some time the load is heavier than you strength. So at 1999 I carried my humiliation and went again to the office of UNHCR, in their new office.

I found a lot of people there and the place wasn't wide enough for all those people. It was a small garage for 2 or 3 cars. The UNHCR used it as a waiting place for refugees and asylum seekers. Some time some of those people stepped out side the garage into the platform of the street, there was a policeman working as security guard for the office of UNHCR, when he saw those people whom step out side he shout on them " hee, animals, go inside"! No one was able to make any objection for that humiliation because they were refugees and asylum seekers and they lived in Lebanon without any legality, that mean with any problem with police they will be arrest and depart to there countries where they will face death. So they swallowed their humiliation without speaking any word. I wasn't able to bear that so I left the office.

These experience and what I saw on the net pushed me to wrote that: "2- For the moment I consider my self don't exist on the map of Humanity because I live in Lebanon without papers ((illegal resident)) and without simple conditions of life, but my page put me on the map of the internet, and it's also my ticket to my existence on the map of Humanity, and it's the first step of a 1000 miles journey." I wrote that before nearly one year and half, and today I'm writing this article for my book. The humiliation was clear in my writing and many people asked me about that. Actually they (the UNHCR and other money collectors) made me lose my feelings of humanity.

I admitted that the situation of the refugee Leeds mostly to poverty for lacking of security and the chance of living in good situation able to provide the refugee with good opportunities to have work and to support himself.

That was my own experience, but the direct reason for appearance pictures like that or the confusion that accompanied the meaning of 'refugee' was because that the UNHCR failed completely to present the real meaning for what means to be a refugee, and because all the activities of UNHCR concentrated on one side of the refugee's life and that was the poverty to collect donations. they ignored the human side of refugee completely. I admitted that the situation of the refugee Leeds mostly to poverty for lacking of security and the chance of living in good situation able to provide the refugee with good opportunities to have work and to support himself.

I meant the poverty don't make refugee but the situation and the conditions that the refugees are living in will produce poverty. Unfortunately the UNHCR and the other money collectors concentrated on the consequences more than the causes! If we look in the publications and the way that all those money collectors (UNHCR and the others) we will see 2 things: the numbers of refugees (statistics) and the pictures of poor people (I'm not sure if these pictures are for real refugees or not).

Those money collectors work to draw specific picture to represent the refugees, to tell us that there are 20 millions of poor refugees in need for money! And they worked hard to keep that picture. Unfortunately the money collectors worked to create a murky picture for the refugees in the world by mixing the term 'refugee' with other categories like IDPs and environment refugees. They concentrated on one side of the life of refugees; they worked to show only the poor people as refugees. They presented the refugees as people like those:

I picked all these pictures from sites belong to UNHCR and other money collectors. they claimed that those are refugees and they money collectors asking for donations to help those refugees! These pictures are small example from thousands pictures on the Internet. the money collectors used these pictures because these pictures are able to move the feelings of donors.

There was much respect for refugees but now what we see only humiliation, distortion, differentiation, discrimination and ignorance. We see rejection for refugees growing day after day. The problem of refugees became in recent day is the number one subject in the campaigns for elections in many countries, especially in Europe. Many countries started to change the laws to straiten and reduce the rights of refugees. All that due the hard work of the UNHCR and the other money collectors in making a foggy meaning for the term of ‘refugee’.

What you can see in these pictures? I can see only poverty! I can’t feel that those people in these pictures are refugees because as UNHCR claimed that the refugee is a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country…"

Do you see one word of that definition in these pictures? I can't see. Now even if we assume that these pictures are true, in that case, they put these pictures to tell us those people are refugees, OK, do these pictures show us the human side of those refugees? Like there feelings, theirs dreams or hopes. Do these pictures able to give us their reaction with their situation? Are they sad or happy? What they want? What they need? What are their stories? What is the message behind these pictures? And how many stories do you knew about refugees before you read my book?!

The big question is, how can we possibly be sure that these pictures are of real refugees? Let me show you something:

In these 2 pictures, the UNHCR tried to show us some refugees looking for water (even in above pictures we can see the same situation). What we can understand from that scene?! did they try to tell us that lacking of water produce refugees? Or every human don't have water he is a refugee! Does that included UN51convention. How could we be sure of the credibility of these pictures?!

Please look to these pictures under this paragraph. We can see same thing, some people wanted water. Could you tell the difference between the pictures above and the pictures under? It’s easy to think that those people in under pictures are refugees also, but it’s not!!!!!! Those people are not refugees!!! Those people are Iraqi citizens wanted water shortly after the last war of USA on IRAQ to eliminate the Iraqi mass destruction arms. The other picture is about an Iraqi Kurdish family used well inside their own house as water supplier, and that common system in north of Iraq. So dose that mean, every one who use well to have water is refugee?!

In this picture you can see Local people clamor for water in Basra, Iraq, Friday April 11, 2003, where members of the British Army's Black Watch and Desert Rats have been overseeing an operation, which on a recent day brought 100,000 litters of water from Kuwait. (AP Photo/Terry Richards, Pool) 4/11/2003
I cut the part where the British soldier was show just to give you an example about how easy to create illusion.

Here is another example: In that picture they claimed that those people are refugees looking for wood for fire.

Now the message is that every one looking for wood is refugee. What about those people in these pictures? Do they also refugees? What do you think? The answer is, all that glitters is not gold, all the thirsty is not refugee, all the woodcutter not refugee. Those people (under) are Iraqis looking for wood because the war stopped the supplies of fuel!

Please try to understand what I'm speaking about here with open mind. If we go back 80 years ago, at 1921 the work was concentrated on solving the problem of the refugees and the prisoners of the war. Those where millions. The League of Nations created a high commissioner for refugees in 1921. Also the League of Nations appointed Fridtjof Nansen its high commissioner for refugee work. There was specific target for Nansen to solve the problem of those millions of refugees. These reason for that problem was the war, so the work started after the war stopped. That meant there would not be more refugees. That work was the first successful teamwork done by the community of human beings through out the history. The reasons were clear, the treatment was clear also, consequently the results was perfect.
Now unfortunately, UNHCR and the other money collectors don't have any policies to deal with the reasons that are making the refugees recently. They ignored completely the causes that made the refugees at first.

Let me put my idea in other way. I was working as radio/tape player sets repairer in Iraq (before I became a refugee) I discovered that if I want best results from my work, I must divide my procedures into 2 types of work:

50% of the work and of my effort must be for discover the reason of the problem that I need to arrange, for example if there wasn't voice, so I must find the answer for; why there wasn't voice.
50% of my work and my effort are for repairing the problem.

When I ignored the reasons of the problem, I discovered that I lost much time and even if I usefully arrange the problem it will come back again after a while.
Now UNHCR and other money collectors do nothing to deal with the first 50% of the causes of refugee crises, but they using the other 50% just to collect money. The result is this picture and worse situation for all refugees:

This isn't everything, there is much more, just keep reading until you understand the complete truth.