Tomorrow will be celebrated as World Refugee Day. In its annual commemoration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is asking Belizeans for a little more compassion towards the Central American Immigrants.
The UNHCR says that in the Americas, quote, "Hundreds of thousands of people from the north of Central America have fled their homes in search of safety, a number that has soared in the past five years now reaching 720,000 worldwide. Thousands of them have fled to Belize in search of safety and a place to rebuild their lives away from violence and persecution." End Quote.
For this year's World Refugee Day, the UNHCR teamed up with the Department of Youth Services to produce a small cooking show. It features a Salvadoran Asylum seeker who wants to put the struggles of refugees like her into perspective. She is only being identified publicly as "Sofia", and she was forced to leave her home country because a Central American gang started to target her family.
While giving a small demonstration on how to cook Salvadoran style pupusas, she opened up to the representative from the Department of Youth Services. Here's what she had to say about how fleeing to Belize has allowed her to live in peace:
Aida Escobar - Communication Officer, Department of Youth Services
"So, she is sharing her story with us. When she was living in El Salvador, her husband was a mechanic. He had a mechanic shop, and there were gang members who were starting to visit them, and starting to follow them.
"So, the gang members started to come to the mechanic shop, and they started to extort her because they had a business."
"And lastly, right before they came to Belize, they were threatened that if they didn't pay $800 US to this gang, they were going to kill somebody in the family."
"So, she shares that if they didn't pay the 800 any one of the family members would die, and this is why they decided to seek asylum in Belize."
"They've been here for about a year and a half, and ever since then, they've loved living here."
This year, World Refugee Day is being observed under the theme "Every Action Counts". The United Nations is hoping to remind the world that everyone, including refugees, can positively contribute to society.
Email
Print