On the screen I saw tanks rolling through dusty streets, and fallen buildings, and forests of unfamiliar trees into which East Pakistani refugees had fled, seeking safety over the Indian border.

quote by Jhumpa Lahiri
Added by Lucian Velea
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After the outbreak of war, in April 1940, we left Geneva with our three children aged 4 years, 2 years and 2 weeks only to become part of the disordered refugee crowds fleeing across France from the German army.

quote by James Meade
Added by Lucian Velea
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On Life Choices

Only one can be president and only one can be pope
And for every millionaire many struggle to cope
With the business of living, poor people are not rare
There are billions of them in the big World out there.

For many life is a battle uphill all of the way
The people who do survive from day to day
To stay out of jail for them a remarkable feat
For many the road to prison starts on Poverty Street.

In the refugee camps of the World thirty million mostly war refugees
And in drought ravaged Countries people dying of hunger and disease
We do have life choices some are known to say
Those who look at life in a simplistic way.

To some people life choices only apply
Most born into poverty though hard they try
Will never be wealthy or know of happiness
Their crime to be born at the wrong address.

poem by Francis Duggan
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Grateful

[Wyclef Jean]
This is as real as it gets y'all
And it don't get no realer than this
This is as real as it gets y'all, huh
[Wyclef Jean]
Maybe my mother, coulda been my father
Perhaps it was my sister, probably my brother
Maybe the church, coulda been the street
Perhaps it was the guitar, or Jerry Wonder beats
Maybe the money when I didn't have a dime
Maybe a way out before committing crimes
Coulda been Lauryn, perhaps it was Pras
Probably the mirror looking dead in my eyes
Coulda been reggae, or the love of hip-hop
Maybe my fans at the show saying don't stop
Probably the struggle of all refugees
Maybe the sign how the diamonds bling-bling, ching-ching
Ring ring, there's a call from my wifey, whoo
Perhaps I gotta make it home but music keep calling me
And maybe it's all I know, whatever it is I'm grateful for being

[...] Read more

song performed by Wyclef Jean
Added by Lucian Velea
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Grateful

[Wyclef Jean]
This is as real as it gets y'all
And it don't get no realer than this
This is as real as it gets y'all, huh
[Wyclef Jean]
Maybe my mother, coulda been my father
Perhaps it was my sister, probably my brother
Maybe the church, coulda been the street
Perhaps it was the guitar, or Jerry Wonder beats
Maybe the money when I didn't have a dime
Maybe a way out before committing crimes
Coulda been Lauryn, perhaps it was Pras
Probably the mirror looking dead in my eyes
Coulda been reggae, or the love of hip-hop
Maybe my fans at the show saying don't stop
Probably the struggle of all refugees
Maybe the sign how the diamonds bling-bling, ching-ching
Ring ring, there's a call from my wifey, whoo
Perhaps I gotta make it home but music keep calling me
And maybe it's all I know, whatever it is I'm grateful for being

[...] Read more

song performed by Wyclef Jean
Added by Lucian Velea
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I'm in total sympathy with Dick Smith's sentiments; I only wish there were grounds for saying we Australians would never tolerate such appalling treatment of refugees being carried out in our name.

quote by Hugh Mackay
Added by Lucian Velea
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An Aussie Christmas Day

In the park after eating barbequed fry the family a game of cricket play
In the warmth of the sunshine of an Aussie Christmas Day
A perfect day for Christmas around 24 degrees
On an afternoon made pleasant by a cool and freshening breeze
On this day in the Land of plenty a thought we ought to spare
For the people who are doing it hard in the bigger world out there
The Homeless and the Stateless dying of hunger and disease
In the refugee camps of the World thirty million refugees
Yet even in the Land of plenty the faces of poverty one does meet
The Homeless and God forsaken who live their lives on the street
Amongst the many well to do the faces of poverty
The outcasts and fringe dwellers of human society
Still a happy Christmas to you on this Aussie Christmas Day
As the family in the sunshine a game of cricket play.

poem by Francis Duggan
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That Tomorrow Is Another Day

There always is tomorrow you hear some people say
But for many tomorrow will me much like today
In the refugee camps of the World thirty million refugees
From war ravaged and drought stricken Countries waiting for placements overseas
In living conditions poor and overcrowded they are obliged to stay
No Country seems to want them that does seem sad to say
Even the wealthy Nations have their own homeless poverty is Worldwide
Due to their circumstance of birth to millions success has been denied
That there always is tomorrow so happens to be true
Though the millions of homeless and displaced better Karma are surely due
Than what life is giving them millions dare not to look ahead
And many far too many only wishing they were dead
That tomorrow is another day with that most would agree
But tomorrow will be like today for those in poverty.

poem by Francis Duggan
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Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war.

quote by Loren Eiseley
Added by Lucian Velea
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Refugee Moon

You are like me
Who haven't a way to go
And to stay
Wondering aimlessly

I have seen you
In my home country
Even before sun set
Hiding and peeping
Watching out to encage
Into the growing darkness

But I couldn’t identify
You are as a refugee.

At the terrible time
Escaping from my death
During the swash buckling things
Happening in white nights
I turned up to

[...] Read more

poem by Udaya R. Tennakoon
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1

Stone bound, I was a refugee
immersed in a starlight
that washed through me
spellbound stillness
imagination reeling
heart on its knees
in humble praise
immersed naked
in similitude
sanctified
sprinkled
baptized
a child
a man
I am
you
we
1

poem by George Vuyakovich
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Out Of Their Hands

Feeble hands and weak knees,
They who escape will be refugees onthe plains of the mountains! !
And like the doves of the valleys nearby;
For, they will lack water and food,
Because, the joy of peace are now gone far out of their hands!

poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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That was not part of the U.N. resolution; it was not part of the mandate to go on to Baghdad and, frankly, if we had gone into Baghdad and pushed Saddam Hussein off, we would have inherited an even bigger mess than the mess we inherited with the refugee problem.

quote by Les Aspin
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Downfall Of Human Kind

The downfall of human kind it would seem to me
Are greed and corruption, homelessness and poverty
And patriotism and religion and National pride
All of these things lead to war and they are World-wide.

In a World where millions are dying of hunger and disease
The refugee camps are full of refugees
Millions displaced due to war and famine of great suffering they know
The people fleeing war zones with nowhere to go.

Even in so called wealthy Nations poverty is rife
And the ruthless look on the poor as the losers in life
Far too many homeless on poverty street
With nowhere to live and with little to eat.

Some grow wealthy and successful though they lie and cheat
The capitalist system has failed us complete
Thousands must grow poorer for every new millionaire
Do not tell me that the capitalist system is fair.

[...] Read more

poem by Francis Duggan
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Can You Now Sing

Can you now sing...
Katrina victims.
Treated less than human beings.
And labelled refugees!
For purposes to show how low,
Demons can demean.

You are in my mind.
And from my insight I wont let go.
Don't think God has forgotten.
Your lives have been prioritized.
Know this...
God loves you so!

Those who still can not believe,
We are all inhabitants of one Earth.
All of us born to one day die.
To nourish and replenish this Earth as dirt.
Lessons they have yet to learn...
Concerning what goes around eventually returns.

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Freak!

Freak
Theres a hole in me thats ten feet wide
Theres a window come and look inside
Tell me everything you see
Because some very strange things have been happening to me
To he rhythm of the rain Im exploring the pain
I slip and slide my own way through
Now I feel like Im having a ball
But Ive got a head full of nothing at all
Im a ... freak
The people come and people say
Another day just thrown away
Freak
You listen up to whats been said
Shake those dreams from your sleep head
Freak
Its getting harder to be me
I feel like Im a refugee
Freak
Youre looking for someone to blame

[...] Read more

song performed by Heaven 17
Added by Lucian Velea
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Obama or McCain

Why should I care who is the next U S President Obama or McCain
Since from who wins or loses I won't stand to gain
I do live far distant of the U S of A
Many thousands of miles that does seem far away.

'Tis all about success and ego and about self esteem
And 'tis all about power little else it does seem
But the poor of the U S as poor will remain
And it should not matter to them who wins Obama or McCain.

This is all about money and all about power
Though many never know of a good meal or of a warm shower
So many live rough on the poor side of town
Whilst McCain and Obama compete for renown.

In the refugee camps of the World millions of refugees
Who live hungry where there is squalor and disease
McCain or Obama will not help them in any way
Do you think this is not a fair thing to say?

[...] Read more

poem by Francis Duggan
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That Millions Do Live In Poverty

That millions do live in poverty should never be seen as okay
The gap between the haves and the have nots keeps getting bigger by the day
Everyone should have the chance to live happy a home to live in and enough for to eat
There never should be slums and ghettos and never a poverty street,
That millions are born to live in poverty and to end their hard lives in despair
Only tells us if there's a god that god favours the wealthy and that god is not very fair
To leave millions homeless and dying of malnutrition the people condemned to die poor and young
In the refugee camps of the World live the displaced, the poor and unsung,
In the age of celebrity worship the poor in millions multiply
Why millions are destined to be poor don't ask me I wouldn't know why
Even in the World's wealthiest Countries poor people are no longer rare
And millions and millions of have nots in the bigger World out there
And millions are dying of hunger and millions are doing it tough
And millions are displaced and homeless and as refugees living it rough.

poem by Francis Duggan
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The Forgotten Hungry And Homeless

The forgotten hungry and homeless nowadays to be found everywhere
There are millions of them close to a billion in the bigger World out there
The refugees of drought stricken Lands and of warlords and the homeless of Poverty Street
Basic human rights of them are denied shelter from the weather and enough for to eat
In a Human World where everyone is supposed to be equal after all we breathe in the same air
But the poor and the homeless and the hungry cannot feel that life is very fair
The minority those who are too wealthy people with too much of everything
Are people that many look up to though their praises I cannot sing,
In an egalatarian Human World everyone would have a home to live in
And nobody would be without food and well dressed and not ragged and thin
The poor by the day growing poorer and that does seem a sad thing to say
And the refugee camps of the World are all overcrowded today,
'Tis sad to think that from the poverty of many that a minority does stand to gain
And I with enough of food and shelter have no reason for to complain.

poem by Francis Duggan
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Silent refugees

What are we left with
When years and health are gone
When tents fall down under the roofs
When the shelters no longer shelter

When winters close down frozen and fireless
When summers burn crying for some ice
When springs forget to grow
And autumns die within a leaf

Who are we left with
When all the beloved are gone
When the helpful can no longer help
When there are no more roads to run
When the vacuum of the universe
Closes beyond our heads

Silent refugees from the earth
Silent refugees from the sky
In Who we shall die

[...] Read more

poem by Miroslava Odalovic
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