"'Accepting charity is an ugly business'"

September 19, 2018 2:04 PM

"My return to the refugee camps, 30 years on": Dina Nayeri was eight when she and her family fled Iran. Are today’s refugees treated with more dignity? (SLGuardian)
posted by praemunire (2 comments total)

Thank you for posting this. I will have to revisit it a few times, I think. It's a life experience beyond me, and I'm glad to have read about it. Beyond that, I really don't know what to say. Haunting and moving and leaving me with a lot of mixed emotions about how helping people can affect their lives in so many complicated ways.
posted by hippybear at 8:01 PM on September 19, 2018

I really appreciated this. I think it's true that we don't get a lot of airtime recognising the basic human dignity of refugees, and charity more generally. I think that's often because the struggle is to have their status as refugees even recognised, and for them not to be attacked in the streets, but this is definitely worth considering and making sure we're integrating into our activities and rhetoric.

The stuff about people wanting the most bang for their charity buck, the most basic nutrients and no consideration for actual desires and needs, certainly rings true and is a problem. As the Whelk always says, bread and roses.
posted by AnhydrousLove at 9:20 PM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]