Feeling an outsider
- Simone
- 3 jan 2016
- 3 minuten om te lezen
The other day I came across the website of the Dutch organisation ‘Vluchtelingenwerk’. They support refugees that come tot the Netherlands with their integration. Beside this noble task, they also give some refugees the opportunity to tell their story. One of the stories on their website is from Besan. This 26-year old used to be a talented journalist in Syria, but then had to leave her country for her own safety. She writes: "I'm grateful that I’m alive and living in the Netherlands. But still here, as a refugee, you go to a daily struggle: the struggle to find a new identity. Because as a refugee, you’ve lost that'. These few sentences touched me. I never thought about the effects of fleeing on your identity. Is there something we can do to make them find back a little piece of their identity?
What is it?
Team Refugee Olympic Athletes
The International Olympic Committee decided at the beginning of march that besides the national teams, a team of refugees will join the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this year. We have to wait till June to find out exactly which 5 to 10 people are selected. IOC-president Thomas Bach explains that with this move the Olympic Games wants to send out a message of hope to refugees worldwide. These athletes will not have a flag to hold or an anthem to sing along with. That’s why they will be welcomed with the Olympic flag and song! After the games, the support won’t stop. The IOC will keep standing by these athletes.
Why is it cool?
The increasing amount of refugees has been a hot item over the last few years. According to the latest Global Trends Report of UNHCR the number of people forcibly displaced at the end of have risen to almost 60 million. The threat that it forms to the European countries, the possible solutions for where to keep this people and a range of opinions on this subject. Those are the things we hear most about. But what about the human side of this problem? I personally never thought about the identity crisis, that refugees go through. ‘Team Refugee Olympic Athletes’ can really mean something for these people. By training hard for the Games they may find back a little piece of themselves. They actually get a chance to accomplish something here. They are even welcomed with the Olympic flag like it’s there own.
I think this initiative of the IOC is a great contribution to the Quality of Life, of the refugees that join the Games and the ones that don’t. It has a positive impact on the emotional wellbeing because they feel respected and perhaps more confident. It might also bring fellow sufferers together through sports (participating and watching).
The trendtheme ‘Shifting Identities’ suggests that we are all looking for new ways to identify ourselves. This is even harder when you had to leave a piece of yourself behind in your homeland. Hopefully in the near future initiatives like ‘Team Refugee Olympic Athletes’ will help those who had to flee, with their daily identity-struggle. Maybe this subject should even be the new subdivision of ‘Shifting Indentities’. I mean, in all honesty, isn’t this issue more urgent than discussions about gender blending?
What sources did I use?
http://www.unhcr.org/558193896.html (afbeelding 2)
Always wonder,
Simone
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