Monday 20 June 2011

refugee week: what is a refugee?

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

This week is refugee week and today is world refugee day.  So what does the word refugee mean to you?  

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

The Collins dictionary defines it as "a person who has fled from some danger or problem, especially political persecution"

But how would you define the word refugee?  
Can you define it?  
Can you tie it down?  
Can one definition encompass all the refugees in the world?

It seems to me that every time I understand what a refugee is, a new trauma creates more refugees and my definition needs redefining.

Today this seems the closest I can get to my definition of refugee:
a person who has, in desperation, left their home to find a place where their life will no longer be at risk.

For more information on refugee week please go to http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk/simple-acts/twentytwo-acts/refuge/refuge.htm

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