REFUGEE CRISIS 2015

[CASALAO]

the refugee/migrant crisis in europe reminds me of a time gone by when as a kid, i, my family and countless others had to trek from samneua down to vientiane more than 50 years ago and later on swam across the mekong to thailand and eventually to america.

although the distance is not the same, the pain and agony are almost the same.

the current european refugee crisis stems from the turmoil in syria and the surrounding regions. the refugee trek is an interesting one: first the syrians refugees find their way into turkey then they take a dingy boat to greek islands about a few miles from the turkish coast. they get rescused and are sent to the greek mainland. from there they make their trek up north with final destination: germany or scandinavian countries.

the arduous journey is frought with pain and danger. the dingy boat can capsize at any moment. the border between countries can be barbed wired and closed at any time. and there's no guarantee that one will be warmly received by the host country.

[CASALAO]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/29/syrian-refugees-europe-arctic-circle-russia-norway

now some syrian refugees have found their way to europe by going this route: first fly to russia then trek up north and cross into norway and apply asylum there.

all in all it is a humanitarian tragedy for the middle east and for europe. now here's one thing. none of the refugees headed south from syria to saudi arabia. they all wanted to go to germany, any scandinavian country or england.

[Her Lao]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/photo-of-syrian-refugee-selling-pens-to-feed-his-daughter-raises-100k-overnight-1.3207807

I quietly shed a lot of tears over the years, when I see very tragic situations.

This particular incident caused me to cry, as I came across it last night. I had to take my glasses off a few times, to wipe away the tears in my eyes as well as the fogged up glasses...

Fortunately, this ONE situation ended well, since quite a bit of money has been raised by some guy from Norway, and so this single and desperate Palestinian dad and her two daughters, living in very bad circumstance in Lebanon (where they're not allowed to legally work and are being taken advantage of, LIKE I REMEMBER IN THAILAND... cutting rice stalks in Thai farms or picking corns...)

But if you look at the small picture below the main story, of the TENS of thousands of Palestinians trying to make their way out of their refugee camp, Yarkmouk, in Syria, after being bombarded by the Assad government and then being infiltrated by ISIS....

No wonder you have TENS TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS risking everyone, to cross the Med Sea into southern Europe and try to make their way up north to the Western and northern European countries...

I'd do the same thing... and, as you said, most of us here in SCL did do very similarly dangerous trekking across vast terrains... to get to safety, with thousands dying on the way...


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/28/migrants-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-whats-the-difference

Here, another picture, IN EUROPE, of a young mother, carrying her precious small child, walking along some railroad tracks... we know HER MISSION IN LIFE is the same as that desperate man in the hot street of Lebanon, with his tired and sleeping daughter over his shoulder and with a few pens on his hand, trying to peddle them, to earn a few CENTS per pen, so he could feed his two precious daughters...

I guess after seeing and knowing all these tragedies, that's why I've decided not to get married or have kids... I don't want to leave offspring, when I am gone, to a world of this nature......

[MadMostOfTheTime]

Post by CASALAO
http://youtu.be/mpxz8Pf2VNE
the refugee/migrant crisis in europe reminds me of a time gone by when as a kid, i, my family and countless others had to trek from samneua down to vientiane more than 50 years ago and later on swam across the mekong to thailand and eventually to america.
although the distance is not the same, the pain and agony are almost the same.
the current european refugee crisis stems from the turmoil in syria and the surrounding regions. the refugee trek is an interesting one: first the syrians refugees find their way into turkey then they take a dingy boat to greek islands about a few miles from the turkish coast. they get rescused and are sent to the greek mainland. from there they make their trek up north with final destination: germany or scandinavian countries.
the arduous journey is frought with pain and danger. the dingy boat can capsize at any moment. the border between countries can be barbed wired and closed at any time. and there's no guarantee that one will be warmly received by the host country.

THAT NUMBER 5 AT THEN OF THE YEAR SEEMS TO GET MORE REFUGEES/MIGRANTS. 1975 COMMIE RULE LAOS 1985 REFUGEES SAW THE END OF THE ROAD SO MOVING OUT OF REFUGEE CAMPS. AND NOW 2015 WE SEE REFUGEE IN ANOTHER PART OF THE WORLD. SOUTH CHINA CONFLICTS WILL STIR SOME DUSTS AND CORPSES WILL FERTILIZED THE LAND IN LAYERS.

[j***@yahoo.com]

From a remote village, somewhere in the district province of Sayabury...words got out to our village that the war has ended and we must move away. The memories from Laos to Thailand, though was seem like just yesterday, but really, has it been almost 40 years ago that we all endured similar tragedy?

It's a vicious cycle of human folly to which some MUST suffer in order for others to gain. When i see images of dilapidated innocence lives, hinge by a thread of strength to live, it brings tears to my eyes and pains my heart.

My prayers are with the refugees.

Jim

[CASALAO]

tragedy on the turkish coast...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/drowned-child-refugee-photo_55e70c46e4b0c818f619e0dd

the human suffering made by humans goes on.

[Her Lao]

http://news.yahoo.com/migrants-storm-opened-budapest-train-station-071450627.html


Almost the entire family wiped out: two small boys and their mother. Must be so unimaginably difficult for this young father... no wonder he said he wanted to return home, back to Kobani, and bury his entire family, including himself, with them.

One of the saddest events.

This death brought back the memory of Bush's invasion of Afghanistan... where there's a picture of a father wandering aimlessly, as if he could see nothing, carrying the mangled body of his little girl, around the same age as this boy, with one of her arms missing and her cloths soaked red.

Even after over 10 years, I still remember that picture, of that tragic father.

The sorrow in his face... the sorrow in this father's face....

I never fully understand humanity....

[CASALAO]

refugee life...

the clip reminds me of the time when i was up in hua-muang(ເມືອງ ຫົວເມືອງ) in houphanh province trying to get on the board of an air america flight out of dodge town. i almost didn't make it for there were hundreds of us samnua refugees wanting to get out of harm's way.

i also remember sleeping under a tree and the stars many nights before reaching the safe zone. it was safe for the next ten years and again in 1975 had to run for my life one more time.

[Her Lao]

Yes, I still have vague memories of getting up in the middle of the night, in that newly settled Hmong village --- right now called NA THEN, although no named when we first arrived there from the mountains over-looking Kasi and Vang Vieng, in early to mid 1975 ... about 8 - 10 kilometers from Ban Chiang (the biggest town between Kasi and Vang Vieng back then) --- and quickly getting into a pre-arranged taxi, and turning toward Kasi/Luang Prabang, as opposed to going to Vang Vieng/Vientiane...

The real scare came when we were almost upon Luang Prabang, but instead of going all the way there, we turned southward, toward Mae Nam Khong... We crossed it and went back to Sayabouly, which we had first moved to, for a few months, after leaving Luang Prabang some 4-5 years earlier, when I was a small baby...

Anyway, from Sayabouly to Nan, Thailand,,,, it was a 10-day-10-night, almost non-stop walking, zigzagging here and there, trying to avoid "troubles," as my parents and uncles and aunts said...

But it's when we got to NANG, Thailand, that my true memories of harsh, starvation refugee life, of 3 years, begun... It's where I witnessed, as a small boy, the barbaric treatment of both HMONG AND LAO refugees by Thai police officers.

Three episodes that I saw truly scared me:

First was a Thai soldier kicking a Hmong man, a still-young man, when he crossed a fence he was not supposed to. Second was a Thai police repeated kicking an ELDERLY HMONG MAN, for not knowing you're supposed to stand still, when the Thai flag was being raised in the morning, every day....

That poor, illiterate old man was repeated kicked and made to run around the flag pole... for a few minutes...

Third and last memorable event was some Thai soldier hassling some Lao men, during rice distribution. I did not see the exact first few moments, so by the time we boy ran to the chaos, a few Lao men were already beating the crap out of that Thai police officer. He was alone and I think he pissed the Lao guys once too many times.

Anyway, immediately the Lao guys knew the police officer would run, after his beating, to his little office and called for back up... so the Lao guys took off, and ran back to their little shacks, which were adjacent to our own little shacks, and THERE OUT CAME A FEW AK-47s... those guys were READY to defend themselves, unlike us hillbilly Hmong who had nothing and no guns...

For some reason, the episode just went very quiet... those few hours and the days after, we were thinking the Thai officials would come looking for those Lao guys... but, again, for some odd reason, nothing further happened...

Yes, terrible, terrible times in Thailand.... for 3 years...

We could have and should have left to America, as the first few families, back in 1975 --- because they came for us immediately after our initial interview --- when we first got to Pua... but the parents were scared of being eaten by White Cannibals... so we waited 3 more years, until late 1978, before we came over...

[Her Lao]

http://youtu.be/ZnqHhjBBfI0

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/croatia-overwhelmed-by-volume-of-refugees-crossing-from-serbia

[Her Lao]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/sep/19/syrian-refugee-dog-video

Great social upheaval.

This is why you should not invade countries left and right, for "national security reasons," which are manufactured for political and/or ideological reasons.

Nations are big entities; once you disturb its fabric, its flows, which takes years to organize and structure, it can go haywire, even if it doesn't go haywire immediately.

Big processes and phenomena take much longer to wind and unwind.

It takes almost 15 years after Bush invasion of Iraq for these massive and unstoppable SOCIAL UPHEAVALS to get going; and now that they roll down mountains, it's very hard to stop them, with so much momentum having built over a decade...