IN Europe, there is a wind of change; thousands of Syrian refugees are coming to Europe, to Germany in particular.
Germany is at the forefront, after the German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany could take up to 800 000 Syrian refugees.
True to the German Chancellor’s word, we watched in amazement, as tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, about 18 000 of them, entered Germany over two days.
Some were holding posters and placards hailing Merkel and Germany.
One refugee referred to her as his ‘Mother, Our Mother’!
It was so touching.
Not to be outdone by the Germans, British PM, David Cameron, announced that Britain would take 20 000 Syrian refugees, the process staggered over five years.
France too, announced that they would take 14 000 Syrian refugees.
That’s a gesture of humility and humanity.
But what about those Sub-Saharan refugees that have been camped at the port of Calais for the past few years; what about them?
It all started with the gruesome image of the drowning of a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned together with his mother and five-year-old brother as they tried to escape to Europe.
Quoted by Al Jazeera, a Jordanian-Palestinian national, Rami G. Khouri, who is a senior fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School, wrote: “Among the latest of these deaths were Alan, his mother and brother, and others in his doomed boat.
“I will carry for years the image of young Alan’s body face down on the shores of south-western Turkey, his outstretched arms and upturned fingers tucked near his body, almost as if he were sleeping.
“His new sneakers were still on his feet.
“He looks almost at peace, like he was taking a nap.
“But he never had a chance, despite his father Abdullah’s heroic efforts to save the family.
“Abdullah was also on the capsised boat and tried to keep his loved ones afloat, but lost them in the rough sea.”
Indeed, this horrific incident sprang the international community into action. Europeans (not all of them) want to help and Austria and Germany opened their borders to the Syrian refugees.
However, conspicuous on the issue of Syrian refugees is the silence of the Arab world, especially the UAE and Qatar, who are sponsoring the rebels fighting Assad, thus contributing to the chaos creating of refugees.
Turkey and Lebanon have taken more than four million Syrian refugees between them.
And also conspicuous is the silence of the Americans because they have been providing arms to the rebels, some who now form part of the dreaded Islamic State militants.
After reading the history of how the NAZIs (Hitler’s Germans) killed millions of Jews in concentration camps, I was never interested in anything German, but now I have warmed up to Angela Merkel.
However, I wish the French and British authorities should extend their generosity and humanity to thousands of failed asylum seekers in their countries, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa camped at Calais.
They too, are human beings.
The conditions at the makeshift squatter camp are deplorable; no sanitation, no medical care, not enough food and no proper clothing.
Throughout the summer, major news channels were focusing on how the immigrants were trying to board lorries and trucks and enter Britain illegally. And the authorities responded by saying they would improve the security at the port to stop the refugees from coming to Britain.
The Guardian newspaper (December 23 2014) reported that 15 refugees had died at the Calais port in 2014.
“The French authorities do not generally keep a record of the migrants who die in Calais, but local charities and the UNHCR say at least 15 people, including young women and teenagers, have died in the past 12 months,” The Guardian wrote.
“Cochetel said he believed conditions in Calais were now worse than those at refugee camps in Turkey, where hundreds of thousands of people arrive each month to escape the bloodshed in Syria.
“He said the British and French governments had yet to appreciate the severity of the situation.”
Is it a race factor?
However, not all British, or Europeans, are happy with the coming of Syrian refugees.
I took the following comments from social media, posted on various forums.
Voicing her anger with PM David Cameron, someone identifying herself as Carol Randerson commented on The Telegraph facebook post: “David Cameron should be tried for treason.
“He is killing the Great British nation.”
However, someone commenting as James Higgins puts the blame of what is happening in the Arab world to Tony Blair.
He wrote: “Tony Blair should be tried for treason Carol.
“It’s his mess that’s got us here in the first place.”
Others believe the PM’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis was more of a knee-jerk reaction.
Kimberley Baillie commented: “Unfortunately, I think that Cameron has had to yield to the short-sighted Brits crying out ‘racism’ and ‘xenophobia’.
“I think that we need good facilities, services and standard of living in place before we put additional strain on the country’s infrastructure by accepting so many refugees.
“Of course I sympathise with their plight, but this should be a world effort not just the responsibility of a select few EU countries.
“This relocation effort is like putting a plaster on a haemorrhage.
“The root cause (Middle-East instability) needs to be addressed first — and no, I don’t mean Britain should wade in again, that gets us nowhere good!”
I know many Africans, including Zimbabweans, who have been struggling to get refugee statuses here in the UK.
Many of them are homeless, living off charity and depending on hospitality from friends.
Others, especially women, are being sexually exploited in return for shelter and food.
In May I came across a disabled Zimbabwean woman, whose story I will write some day.
She is homeless, has her leg amputated and the government wants to deport her back to Zimbabwe because she has no leave to remain in the UK.
I hope someone somewhere will do something for her.
After all, they say charity begins at home.
Before the authorities go to UN refugee camps in the Middle-East to scout for refugees (to bring to Britain), they could possibly start by giving this disabled woman a decent accommodation.