The Refugee Series Part 2
The other night I spent several hours chatting with 4 refugees. 3 are Afghanistani, 1 is from Eritrea. I would like to tell you about some of the interesting things I remember that these 4 very nice, gentle men told me about their life experiences.
US and France’s part in poverty and war
Ghoebre came from Eritrea which is in Africa. An Australian Christian Brother sponsored him to come out here. For this he was very fortunate and the visa protection is much better than for his Afghani friends. I didn’t get to speak to him for long, but we talked about Africa a bit. He was an extremely well-spoken person and is working very hard at his job in Australia. He seemed very happy to have the opportunity to work in Australia as it gave him independence and the ability to support himself and thus enjoy Australian life.
He told us that war is a very big problem in his country because it creates poverty. The land has been destroyed by war. Farmers are unable to tend the land when they are constantly having to focus on war and protecting their lives. Of course this leads to people becoming very greedy and protective of their land, which only leads to more jealousy and war. He said that if it weren’t for all the wars, that his country could produce enough food to feed its people. His face lit up when he spoke of the way food in his country is “all natural”. “If you want milk, you go to a cow and you drink. If you want fruit, you go to a tree and you eat it.”.
I asked him why he thought there were so many wars in his country. He said that there are several reasons but as he had seen it, there was one main reason. America and France produce a lot of artillery. They of course need a market for these weapons, so they go to Africa and convince a group of people there “Hey there are these people over there who want to invade your land. If you want to keep your land, you’re going to need these weapons. Have a look at these guns. Look at how they shoot. They will protect you against them. You need these.”. Then they go to the other group and tell them the same story. A division is created, the seeds of jealousy are planted and war breaks out. (And you wonder why we turned a blind eye on Rwanda).
I think he is aware that this is not all there is to it, that these situations are complicated. But I still found it interesting to hear someone from these places say this about how his country works, him having only been in Australia a few months.