WHAT does it mean when we hear about people supposedly living in evacuation centers?
It’s sad to realize that because we constantly hear about these people, not a few among city dwellers are becoming cynical about their existence. It is as if these people, mostly Muslims and Indigenous Peoples chose to be at the evacuation centers because of the food assistance from government and other well-meaning organizations.
It pains one to see that so many things are being ignored when city dwellers are becoming used to the sight of evacuees, not knowing that these unfortunate people are indicators that something is not right.
Most of those who join humanitarian missions that provide even just a little relief for the families, the women and children in evacuation centers, see this situation as UNACCEPTABLE for human beings like them, and are actually visualizing themselves in the evacuees’ point of view.
When one hears their stories and look deep into their eyes, one would see the unexpressed sadness and confusion, woundedness. Naturally, when one is able still to give whatever assistance to another human being, there is a symbiotic relationship that cannot be missed. When one listens well and give attention to the misery of another person, some kind of positive energy is released in the process.
Looking at it from the perspective of an ordinary person’s point of view, there is some kind of an invisible warmth, a kind of lightness that fill the moment between humans, both coming from the distressed who is unloading a heavy burden, and the one who is listening.
That is why the psycho-social therapy even among adults has always been effective an approach in humanitarian missions. It is one way of freeing bottled emotions that are usually felt by people who are forcibly evicted from their domicile not because of their own making, but by circumstances that are beyond their control.
For the giver of assistance, some emotions could be let out too, though the person might not be aware of it. Most often, what manifests itself is a kind of feel-good in the individual, the feeling that one has been able to respond to an unexpressed distress. It could also bring in unexplainable emotions ranging from sadness, disbelief, relief and or anger which could and might trigger an inner desire for action from the giver.
It is not easy to be living in a “shelter” when everything else is grey and uncertain in life. When one is forced to wait for food even if the kinds of food are not even tasty, to say the least, to feed the children and unable to do something about it, or try to make sleep “comfortable” for the children in a 4x4 square meter room that a family of four or more MUST share with four (or more) other families, life can be so wretched and daunting.
And yet, there’s no CHOICE for them but endure, persevere.
And that’s what could trigger animosity and anger in a human being who is treated like they do not belong, when driven out of their own abode not of their own making.
Humanitarian missions are a welcome event whenever people are displaced. It helps people deal with uncertainty and release tension that is building up in individuals living in these dire situations, even briefly. In a way it cushions the impact of injustice dealt and felt by the displaced, and helps release pent-up emotions.
And yet so few people, especially among city dwellers who are seemingly “untouched” by the realities of the evacuees do not see it this way. Many do not appreciate humanitarian assistance.
When we continue to live our lives like we do not care about what other human beings are undergoing, we are in for a bad surprise.
Everything and every one of us are connected to each other, whether we like it or not. “What goes around comes around,” so the saying goes. One way or another, each one of us is going to be confronted by situations that we least expect, and if we continue to live in our “shell”, we might wake up isolated by our own doing or undoing.