Mid-June World Refugee Week 2022 came with the theme: “Whoever. Wherever. Whenever. Everyone has the right to seek safety.” We went through those seven days. They did remind us that the number of people now rendered homeless has swelled to 89.3 million. This annual dedicatory date, June 20, a tribute to their resilience, too passed on by, quietly, stealthily, as most refugees must.
In these dramatic times, the homeless or stateless learn to travel light. Primarily living in the lap of Earth, our shared home, they recognise her as a living being—Mother Nature or Dharti Ma. There is an awareness of her maternal, giving nature. Other well-nested ones may have lost close contact with her. Perhaps, during transit to places of concrete, they misplaced their specific thread within the web of relationships with other earth species, soil, water, air and sunlight.