A response to those that fear refugees entering their country: –
- Perhaps some refugees are economic migrants (as though that is a dreadful sin).
- Perhaps some might take a job in your country.
- Perhaps some might lower the pay rates.
- Perhaps some might claim benefits.
- Perhaps a very few might be terrorists because that is how they said they would infiltrate.
But what about those who have seen their neighbours killed by barrel bombs? What about those who saw children beheaded? What about those fleeing families who had everything taken from them but the clothes they stood up in? What about those who could no longer bear hearing their children crying during bombing every night? What about those who paid €2000 to be crammed into a tiny open boat with no room even to sit? What about those who can’t swim washed up on a shore in the middle of the night clambering over seaweed strewn rocks who could not save all their children? What about those who arrive having had no food or water for days even weeks?
When you see a small child draw a picture of a happy family scene followed by a picture of aircraft with bombs falling, bodies with limbs missing, pools of blood and faces with tears, could you turn your back on them? Really, could you?