Despite all this, it is a day each year when I face the same dilemma. I ask - What are we celebrating? People's misery? Every other day of the year I can't get a bottle of milk through UNHCR to feed a hungry child of an asylum seeker family as they are not within their funding categories but, on this day, UNHCR comes forward with the big budget to put on the big show for all to see - not just the refugees but also their partners and others. Is this about a big show for UNHCR?
So I wrestle with trying to make sense of what we are celebrating and its purpose. I share with a couple of ones I trust and respect in this area of work and I come to make some sense of it all.
It is about letting the refugees celebrate and enjoy themselves just for one day in the year, letting them show off and show outsiders a good side to who they are as they entertain and share their identity. They feel some pride in doing this. So let them be proud of who they are, whereevr they may come from. It is also about letting donors see the positive side and so invite them in a positive way to support these people who need every bit of support.
So I guess I keep my dilemma to myself for the sake of the greater good of the refugees. I will go to BRC for the day and join in with everyone else. Still my two big questions do remain. Are we celebrating people's misery as they await a homeland? How does UNHCR get money for this but not to help these people survive the rest of the year?
My questions may seem strange to others but they are my questions and I have the right to question and make my little protest. I will just have to find a good and constructive way not to seek the answers but to fly the questions because they are mine and they need to be heard.
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