I just remembered that I wanted to recommend these books to you guys. I read them a couple of weeks ago, and I would REALLY suggest you give them a go. I think it's really important for people to read first hand accounts of what it's like to be a refugee/asylum seeker in order to develop some empathy. If the mainstream media actually highlighted experiences like these (instead of propagating racism and fear) I think we would have significantly less ignorance in society.
http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781742372389
http://carinahoang.com/book
I think 'The Happiest Refugee' is a particularly good one, as his style of writing makes it easy to engage with his story. Reading them simultaneously, however, was helpful in that in gave more background/in depth information about what he was talking about. As a warning, books like these are always difficult to read, simply due to the subject matter, but I'd say it's worth doing.
m
I think one of the contributors of the book Boat People came to one of my lectures last year, as well as a Sudanese (?) refugee who talked about his experiences. Anh Do's book looks good.
ReplyDelete- Big M
Really?!? Jealous. Why don't I get interesting guest speakers at my lectures?
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I really think you would like it. (Pinkham, Caitykins and Meg should also read it) - It's available to request from ye local library.