Sylvia's Journal

About three decades ago, the UN’s High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) launched an advocacy campaign that included large posters with the faces of famous people. I had one on my wall with the iconic image of Einstein, and underneath the words “Einstein was a refugee.” But at that time the plight of refugees was a rather abstract idea for me. I didn’t know any people who had had to leave their home and everything behind for well-founded fears.

After the Taliban took over the government (if that’s what one could call it) in Afghanistan, the idea has taken on human proportions. In June or July last year a senior official in the Afghan government had contacted me, desperate to get out and needing help to do so.

I had gotten in touch with group of committees lawyers working with a prominent law firm in DC who were working (pro bono) on the application for Humanitarian Parole for him and his family. They had reason to fear the Taliban. I was pessimistic about their chances, due to the sheer number of applicants for this kind of visa and its limitations once in the US. Besides, he had not been able to leave the country and was essentially on the run, not being able to live with his family. I had been in communication with him since last June following the harrowing story.

A few days ago I received a surprising message via WhatsApp that this family got out of the US queue and made it safely to the UK, thanks to a connection to someone high in the British Defense hierarchy. The Brits can rejoice as this family will enrich them. In the US we have lost out. The political rhetoric has led to a common narrative that portrays refugees as a burden. In this narrative refugees are not just seen as a burden but treated as one, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

About a decade ago my brother introduced me to Omar, a young Dutch/Afghan man, while I was visiting my family in the Netherlands. At the age of 7 he had arrived in the Netherlands in the early 90s as part of a previous stream of refugees from Afghanistan. Now in his mid-thirties he has become a partner in a prestigious law firm and a full law professor at one of Dutch top law universities. He has found a way to enrich the Dutch and be enriched by them. He also pays taxes, probably quite a bit. If you can read Dutch, here is the interview with him.

Refugees make us better, improve the gene pool, contribute to society, and teach us about diversity. They always have. Diversity, as we know from nature, improves rather than decreases our chances of survival. Refugees also teach us about things we admire here in the US: courage, perseverance, resilience and faith. They have leapt from the edge, something that most of us never have to do. We ought to improve their chances of a safe landing rather than pulling away the safety net and then scold them for being a burden.  I am grateful to the many people and organizations that hold the safety net in place for the Afghans that made it here. We should consider ourselves lucky to have them.