Every week, The WorldPost asks an expert to shed light on a topic driving headlines around the world. Today, we speak with author Ben Rawlence about the refugee crisis and his work in Kenya’s Dadaab camp.
The European refugee crisis is just one part of a larger crisis playing out along borders and in camps across the world.
A record 60 million people worldwide are currently forcibly displaced from their homes. Among them, 14 million have already spent five or more years as refugees — what the United Nations classifies as “protracted displacement.” Many eke out a life in refugee camps, and most do not have the right to work or move around freely.
.
Ben Rawlence
Kheyro, one of the nine Dadaab residents featured in City Of Thorns. Kheyro was a student and then a teacher in the camp. She came to Dadaab with her mother Rukia when she was two, fleeing Somalia’s civil war in 1992.
The refugee crisis in Europe and the ongoing devastation in Syria gained worldwide attention in September when photos emerged showing a drowned Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, lying facedown on the shores of Bodrum, Turkey. Alan’s father is now asking the world to do what it can to help his fellow refugees.
“I’d like the whole world to open its doors to Syrians,” Abdullah Kurdi told the U.K.’s Channel 4 News in a statement broadcasted on Christmas.
Kurdi was a barber in Kobani, Syria, before he and his family fled to Turkey to escape “barrel bombs, explosions and also Daesh” — another name for the militant group that calls itself the Islamic State.
.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images A Turkish gendarmerie soldier moves Alan Kurdi’s body, which washed ashore on a beach after a boat carrying 12 migrants sank off the coast of Mugla’s Bodrum district on Sept. 2, 2015.
Pope Francis delivered a speech to U.S. lawmakers on Thursday morning, calling on leaders to consider the plight of the poor and vulnerable in society.
“A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk,” he said. “Legislative activity is always based on care for the people. To this you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you.”
His speech touches on issues including climate change, immigration and the refugee crisis, with a shared message of compassion. It was the first time a pope has addressed a joint meeting of Congress.
.
Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
Thousands of exhausted, elated migrants reached their dream destinations of Germany and Austria on Saturday, completing epic journeys by boat, bus, train and foot to escape war and poverty.
Before dawn, they clambered off a fleet of Hungarian buses at the Austrian border to find a warm welcome from charity workers offering beds and hot tea. Within a few more hours of rapid-fire aid, many found themselves whisked by train to the Austrian capital, Vienna, and the southern German city of Munich.
The surprise overnight effort eased immediate pressure on Hungary, which has struggled to manage the flow of thousands of migrants arriving daily from non-EU member Serbia. But officials warned that the human tide south of Hungary still was rising, and more westward-bound travelers arrived in Budapest within hours of the mass evacuation of the capital’s central rail station.
Explore the dynamic relationship between faith and science, where curiosity meets belief. Join us in fostering dialogue, inspiring discovery, and celebrating the profound connections that enrich our understanding of existence.
Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
James' World 2 