Fugees

It was three college courses (and HipHop music) that had drawn my attention to Africa and refugee.

One is an an introductory African literature!! Strangely enough, my college had various Africa-related classes. "Things Fall Apart" (by Chinua Achebe) was one of the required readings. Later, I bought the Roots' "Things Fall Apart". This HipHop group tend to name its album after inspiring books. But, I started to have my interest in refugee after having bought "the Score", the Fugees' (Refugee Camp) 1996 smash hit album.

classic

Another class is intermediate international relations class that focused on civil wars and genocides in 1990s. Tragedies happened mostly in Africa.

Lastly, during one-month United Nations summer seminar, I met and interviewed ambassadors/diplomats from all over the world, UN bureaucrats, and NGO representatives in New York. Partly inspired by Ms. Ogata, then High Commissioner of UNHCR, I picked refugee for the theme of my report.

However, it was several years later when refugee became from a mere academic theme to the reality to me. I met a number of refugees who setteled in Maine, USA, from Somalia, Rwanda, Congo and Iraq. Their families were torn apart, and some of family members were killed. Some were lucky to have had their first family reunion in 5 years or so.

not quite an asylum in Portland, Maine

Today, June 20, is the World Refugee Day. There are, according to the UN refugee agency, 67 million refugees and internally displaced persons in total.