Indulge me momentarily please Facebook. Since the Haitian earthquake Ive donated a monthly amount to the UNHCR - nothing to brag about but enough that with varying levels of employ over the last 18 months, Ive considered cancelling it. Today I was stopped by a UNHCR member in the street. Smugly, I told him I already donated (as is often my lie to those Greenpeace hippies) and continued walking. But that wasnt enough for Abdul. He stopped me and asked how long, how much etc. Then he told me his story. Abdul was from Sierra Leone. During the war he had to separate from his wife as, to married couples, rebels would often kill the husbands and capture the wives - you were actually safer as a single (Tinder, not so popular in S.L. assumedly) So with the heaviest heart, Abdul said goodbye to his wife and ended up in a Liberian refugee camp. Two years later, still in the camp, Abdul was stopped by a woman, an old school friend of his wifes, who he had not run into before. She asked Abdul, where is your wife? He said He didnt know but having lost all contact, assumed she was dead. The friend said, No, shes alive and in Australia. (bit of a suckerpunch by the friend, but hey we laugh to keep from crying - Was that Tolstoy or Kanye West?) Anyway, Abdul didnt believe it but through UNCHR he got his wifes phone number and called her (3am here, assumedly she forgave him). And because she was already on the ground here, Abdul was more eligible for entry. UNHCR made that possible. So if you felt the Governments cut to foreign aid was unfair, but youre not giving any, please do your own budget and perhaps youll find you can afford it. unrefugees.org.au/ Then, you too can bask in your own social smugness next time Abdul or one of his colleagues stop you.
Posted on: Sat, 31 May 2014 07:02:13 +0000
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