Our Daily Bread

For several years Austria has been deporting refugees back to EU countries that they were in before Austria. They trace where the refugees have been through fingerprints taken and shared by the authorities of all EU countries. To some refugees, the refugee camp in Austria is like the promised land compared to what they've already been through in the countries they've been in during their journey since leaving their homelands.

I talked to two men yesterday at clothing room who are from Iraq and Morocco. Both had spent years trying to reach an EU country like Austria. They volunteered that their mode of transportation had been mostly their own two feet. Due to lack of money to pay a smuggler, they had spent time in multiple countries along the way and were fingerprinted a number of times. The man from Morocco said that the authorities in Romania had told him that if he claimed he was a refugee, they would fingerprint him; if he didn't, they would throw him in prison for a year. He chose to be fingerprinted. But he said it is much worse in Romania than even in Greece, which is know as being a horrible place for refugees. Austria no longer deports refugees back to Greece. The man said that at least in Greece you could find something to eat, but in Romania there was nothing. The Iraqi man had also been in Greece and agreed. He'd been in Bulgaria and said Bulgaria was like Romania - no chance, nothing to eat and prejudice from the Bulgarian people.

Both had lost all hope in their home countries for a normal life; both were well educated and spoke English well; both now expect deportation (back to Romania and Bulgaria); both longed to just be free to live, and to earn and enjoy their daily bread. It seems like such a simple and basic request, doesn't it?

I was reminded of my privilege, due to nothing I've done, to have always had freedom and opportunity, and with them, my daily bread. Carol