World Refugee Day

The week of June 25, 2013, the BBC Arabic ran a lot of stories about refugees (mostly Arab refugees), in honor of World Refugee Day. Here is what some of them said:

First, Eman in Norway called in. Eman is from Sudan, but was born and lived all her life in Libya. She says that her arrival in Norway was 'mumtaz' - that is an Arabic word meaning great, terrific, wonderful, beautiful. The only thing she doesn't like is that during the seven years you have to wait to get your Norwegian citizenship, you can leave, so she can't visit her home country.

Then, a guy in Sweden called in or wrote in an email. I didn't catch from where he was originally. He said there is no other country which takes such good care of its refugees, but for all that I won't forget my home country.

Then a guy living as a refugee in Sudan called in. He was a refugee from another Arab country. He said "I forget I'm a refugee because of everyone's great kindness," blah blah blah, must have been a fluke.

And finally, here is the crowning glory. A smart Iraqi guy was interviewed from where he lived in Hull, England. He said: yes, I want to go back to Iraq because there are more opportunities to work in Iraq than in Britain, and also because here, the taxes take up three fourths, well, half of your salary, whereas in Iraq, we are a 'tax-free country'. Right, and this is something to be proud of! The sucky countries usually are the ones with no taxes. Thank you for clarifying.

As an afterthought - a mere afterthought - he says: now all I have to do is to take consideration of the security situation.