What Being a Refugee Means to Me
Whether it’s who they were before they left home, who they are now, or what they hope to do after they are resettled, their words provide insight on their personal experiences.
“It’s not worth crying everyday”
“I feel like I am living overseas and I am facing the same problems as someone would if they moved away from home. We are not able to survive by keeping a happy mind everyday. You will be happier because you are a refugee already and it is not worth crying everyday.”
“I still do not fit in”
“I get help, but I still do not fit in…The allowance helps for rent and food but it does not help for specific medication…Being a foreigner in Thailand and being considered illegal is a frustration…I live in constant fear.”
“Their future is dark”
“[Being a refugee means] a period of transition, moving from one life to a completely different one, moving maybe from something better to worse suddenly. It is sad, when I come and see the children, their future is dark.”
“I am just waiting”
“I am happy…Now I have education and money; it is easier to live…I am just waiting to be resettled. I have hope that I will have a new life in a new country.”
“The money is not enough”
“After they recognized us as a refugee, they gave us medical services [and] education, but the money is not enough. [It is] difficult to manage the money. Transportation takes a lot of money”
“I think I might die”
“We are worried because we cannot study. Sometimes I think I might die because I am alone here. I do not have any relationships here. I want to live a peaceful life with my parents.”
“We lost everything”
“This is not my country, so I cannot live the way I want. So now we lost everything: [we] lost our home. However, the UNHCR must give us another country. We must think about the future.”
“I am very proud”
“I am very proud to be a refugee because it has a great meaning, that we are people fighting for a home and land that was taken away when in the end it does not belong to anyone, but to Earth. I was born under a corrupt system. You liberate yourself from an old society but you come here and have to abide by new restrictions. We refugees are people [who] leave everything to find peace.”
“It’s not about a better life”
“It’s first about protection, not about a better life…You have to have lots of patience.”
“I have no life”
“I have no life. It is like life in prison.”
