Blog # 114…February
2021
What a weird
world we’re in - half of us forced to stay home, the other half compelled to
leave their homes and move from one unwelcoming place to another…all of us
menaced by an outside force beyond our control.
Migration has always happened: in search of food or economic security,
fleeing from religious or political persecution or just with a sense of adventure and exploration. What’s been happening in the past few decades
though, has some enormous differences – the numbers of
people on the move, their condition and
the unwillingness and/or inability of destination areas to be receptive…I know, I know, an
oversimplification of a complex situation but you get my point.
I’ve been
interested for some time in the stories of people who come here from somewhere else
– Syria or Somalia, the US or Uruguay - whether through choice or necessity.
How do they see their surroundings, and us? What do they love about being here?
What was the journey like? What do they miss most about home?
Penguin has recently published a Book of Migration Literature with a foreword by Haitian/American novelist Edwidge Dandicat. The subtitle: Departures, Arrivals, Generations, Returns speaks to the stages, the complexity of the process, and the uniqueness of each situation with first person narratives that are both inspiring and heart breaking. Warsan Shire, London's inaugural Young Poet Laureate was born in Kenya to Somali parents and moved to the UK when she was very young. In one of her poems she says "I spent days and nights in the stomach of the truck, I did not come out the same. Sometimes it feels like someone else is wearing my body."
We’re living in a world of migrants, timing is all that separates me from someone who arrived yesterday and I want to look for the common elements in our humanity while recognizing the differences. Pieces from Djamilia Ibrahim, Shani Mootoo, Marlene NourbeSe Philip, as well as recommendated readings from Rohinton Mistry, Rawi Hage, David Chariandy, Shauna Singh Baldwin , Dionne Brand and Austin Clarke are all evidence of how profoundly we’ve been touched by people who’ve joined us in this country,
I was totally thrilled recently when Souvankhan Thammavongsa won the Giller prize for How to Pronounce Knife! She was born in a Lao refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand in the aftermath of the war that devastated her country as collateral damage. She came with her parents to Canada as a small child and her collection of short stories recounts the unique challenges and situations faced by Lao immigrants to Canada, yet somehow reflecting universal experiences of everyone - including us. On my best trip ever, I fell in love with Laos and the people, travelling in a tiny boat up the Mekong into remote areas of the country, so her voice reached me particularly. She and her book are a great example of Canada welcoming of migrants, and an important addition to both our history and our present.
Another kind of migration, a voluntary one, is the Out of Eden Walk undertaken by American Paul Salopek…he calls it a decade long experiment in slow journalism. Starting in Ethiopia about seven years ago, he’s walking the pathways of the first humans who migrated out of Africa in the Stone Age, planning to complete his walk somewhere in the US. Along the way, he’s covering stories of climate change, technological innovation and mass migration, from the ground and among the people who are most affected.
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| Paul Salopec and friend |
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| The New Yorker, January 18, 2021 |
Speaking of
metamorphosis, next blog will be March,
it won’t be dark at 4:30 and we’ll have survived most of winter, hurray for us!
