Contents
Section 1: Loving Minds and Caring Hands: Displaced People Building Compassionate Communities During COVID-19
Loving Minds and Caring Hands
Displaced People Building Compassionate Communities During COVID-19
At a time when people feel estranged from each other and their communities because of COVID-19, refugees and asylum seekers seek to bridge this gap by extending compassion to their communities and newfound homes. They make their resilience known through their skills—sewing, medicine, engineering—that were developed in their countries of origin and/or through their migration. These skills are a labor of survival and of care. Their acts of kindness showcase ingenuity and the desire to become part of.
It would be negligent to not acknowledge the narratives of human rights violations that migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers face throughout this pandemic—inadequate quarantining and social distancing conditions, medical care, and resources. This section merely provides one piece of the refugee, asylum seeker, and COVID-19 narrative, with the intention to foreground migrant agency and action. However, this is not without its own struggle. As seen in the many of the narratives below, refugees and asylum seekers continue their battles even once they have resettled or begun integrating into a community. They engage in the practice of creating home and belonging, away from everything familiar. This seemingly simple concept of home is complicated with the burdens and regulations that come with displacement. It is a constant work in progress to feel valued, part of, and at home.
Homemaking and Belonging
- Novjyot (Joti) Brar-Josan, Developing A Sense of Belonging During Resettlement Amongst Former Refugee Young Adults, dissertation (2015)
- Zeina Fakhreddie, “Summary of Making Homes in Limbo? A Conceptual Framework, by Catherine Brun and Anita Fábos,” Medium.com, Oct 17, 2017
“Meet the refugees keeping people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic,” (Read the article, Rescue.org, June 11, 2020)
A Work in Progress
- Vanig in Canada, from Syria: Maia Bix, “Vanig’s Story,” in Refugees at Work, produced by Tent Partnership for Refugees, podcast, June 11, 2020
- Carmen in Lima, from Venezuela: Filippo Grandi, “Refugees are on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s give them the rights they deserve,” World Economic Forum, April 30, 2020
Warm Hands, Seeing Vulnerability
- Shadi in Switzerland, from Syria: UNHCR (@Refugees), “Milk, cucumber, olive oil” (Video), Twitter, 2020
- Uyen in the U.S., from Vietnam: Divya Amladi, “Dishing up food and kindness in a COVID-19 world,” Oxfam, June 17, 2020
Brilliant Minds, Easing Hearts
- Marwan et al, in Za’atari settlement in Jordan, from Syria: Harry Kretchmer, “These refugees have built a Lego robot to fight COVID-19,” World Economic Forum, May 15, 2020
- Observing Minds Lab in partnership with the African refugee and asylum seeker community in Israel: Moments of Refuge (Audio), Observing Minds Lab, 2020
- For more information on the Observing Minds Lab, see Abigail Klein Leichman, “Mindfulness SOS for refugees rolls out from Israel,” Israel21c, June 12, 2020
Compiled by Angie Diaz (Summer 2020)
