23.4: "Poetry from a Refugee Camp" by Laura Naude

In the last five years, over 200,000 refugees have arrived in the Greek Isles and along its borders. Many of the camps, like the one described in the text below, meant to hold at max 2,000 people, house triple or quadruple that many. Trapped between certain death if they return home and a Europe that won’t, or can’t, absorb that many people, the refugees wait. Hunger, disease, and hopelessness are commonplace. Laura Nuade tells the story of Ahmed Yonso, a refugee at one such camp, as he attempts to communicate his frustration and despair at the situation in the powerful poem below. This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 3.0 license.

Pre-Reading Question: As you read through the poem, try to empathize with the narrator. What do you know about him and his situation. What must he be feeling? What state of mind is he in? Is this poem a cry for help? How would you answer the narrator?

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On the edges of Europe, in a small town 20KM from the FYROM border lies a gas station. This station, which two months ago was simply a place to refuel and get a coffee, is now ‘home’ to over 2000 people fleeing conflict. EKO has become a village all its own, complete with community spaces, hairdressers, bakeries, shops, a tea tent and takeaway food. The people living here have built communities together, and have extended their love and hospitality to include the large number of volunteers working to provide relief and support.

The complexity of life here is impossible to grasp. The large majority of the people living at this informal camp made the treacherous journey from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq to Europe when the borders surrounding Greece were still open. Almost two months ago, however, the last remaining border to the rest of Europe closed, leaving 54 000+ refugees stranded. Greece has been struggling immensely to respond effectively to this crisis, and as a result the refugees are forced to stay in shamefully inadequate conditions. Worse than this, however, is the lack of information about what the next step in the asylum process will be, and how long this will take. The psychological impact of this on people who have seen and experienced the worst of humanity, is not acknowledged nearly enough.

Despite these unimaginable hardships, the people staying at EKO are some of the kindest, most generous and inspiring people I have ever met. The politics and plethora of excuses that dominate conversations about the ‘refugee crisis’ fall away when you look into the eyes of not refugees, but people. The ‘crisis’ component lies in the fact that babies are being born in tents, that terminally ill people aren’t getting treatment, that parents cannot reassure their children that this will all be over soon. The ‘crisis’ lies in the lack of compassion. It lies in the fact that the world is allowing people to exist without hope.

This poem was written by Ahmed Yonso, one of many young people living at EKO. Ahmed is a 28 year old Literature student from Daraa, Syria. He spends every day working as a translator for the medical teams working at EKO and in the surrounding areas. Ahmed arrived at EKO 44 days ago. He fled Syria on the 7th of January 2016.

EKO Station

If you in EKO station

You will see the real dehumanisation

You don't have the right to have

to love, to get small inspiration

You are just a number

For another greedy nation

They will never see you as a human being

Just a creature they threaten with deportation

I wish that I was dead in Syria

Rather than be in this situation

I am not sure what you can call this treatment from the best civilization

Despite this all

We will not break down

We are the strongest combination

To cross the mountains

The desert the borders

To make the sea our last destination

To be Syrian that means to suffer in every way

In your imagination

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Post-Reading Questions for Naude:

1) What does Nuade mean by “dehumanization?” How/Why does her situation make her feel less that “human?”

2) The last line could also be seen as a positive: “imagination” being the only escape from the current conditions. Re-read the poem. Is this a positive or negative poem, overall? Why?

3) Nuade seems to be shaming the “civilized” nations of Europe for their apathy towards the refugee crisis. Why does she use the word “civilized?” What meaning or connotation do we attach to the word “civilized?” How does Nuade believe civilized countries are supposed to act?

4) When have you felt treated less than human, like just a number? When have others, especially those you felt should help you, ignored your pain (emotional or physical)? Do you see your own feelings echoed in Nuade’s poem? Why or why not?

Journal Writing: Try to imagine what it must feel like to be a refugee, especially a child. Your home is destroyed, your neighbor’s home is destroyed. Armed factions have taken over your school (which has been closed for months as many of the teachers are missing or dead. Your parents wake you up in the middle of the night and say soldiers are coming and the family has to leave. You only have the clothes on your back. You don’t know where you are going, and your parents don’t know either and you suspect they are giving you their share of the remaining food. After weeks of walking, you arrive at the makeshift camp described in the text and poem. Describe the complex mix of emotions you might be feeling, try to blend those emotions with descriptions of the camp. What does the camp look like? What might it look like to a near starving child? How might those feelings and descriptions change when you realize there is no going forward (no one will take you) and no going back (your family will be killed). Can words ever communicate these emotions?