Syria is still in crisis. People are still miles from home, having risked their lives fleeing from the chaos, seeking refuge. So why have we stopped talking about it?
I'm forever baffled and, frankly, appalled by this negative nationalism many Brits exhibit whenever these refugees are talked about. Just because they live in a different country, talk in a different language and have a different skin tone many seem to think it ok to treat them like unwanted rodents. THESE ARE PEOPLE. Desperate, distraught people.
All the talk about these innocent survivors is almost always centred on whether we 'have room'. Do we not get it? So what if it makes the housing crisis worse (it doesn't), so what if local resources are strained a little bit further (they won't be). We are safe, we have a roof over our heads. These poor people have no home, no livelihood, few possessions. If they were British and you compared housing someone with their needs to the strain it might have on the country's services there would be no question about helping them. HECK! If they were American or French we'd be filling community centres. But no, they are seen by far too many Brits as brown people who might be terrorists. How ashamed I am of a society where that is a commonly held view. How disappointed I am in the political class and the media that they would spin and drive such perspectives. How shocked I am that we would treat fellow human beings as statistics not people.
I know there are good people, kind people, loving people out there. You're probably one of them. So please, I urge you, donate some money to help these helpless war victims. We should not have to rely on charity but our government has failed to do enough and the opposition has been too consumed with inter-party spatting to curtail the government's inaction.
Where to donate:
UN REFUGEE AGENCY
Thank you