"The Guests" by Leonard Cohen: the refugees

"The Guests"

One by one, the guests arrive
The guests are coming through
The open-hearted many
The broken-hearted few
And no one knows where the night is going
And no one knows why the wine is flowing
Oh love I need you
I need you
I need you
I need you
Oh . . . I need you now

And those who dance, begin to dance
Those who weep begin
And "Welcome, welcome" cries a voice
"Let all my guests come in."

And no one knows where the night is going ...

And all go stumbling through that house
in lonely secrecy
Saying "Do reveal yourself"
or "Why has thou forsaken me?"

And no one knows where the night is going ...

All at once the torches flare
The inner door flies open
One by one they enter there
In every style of passion

And no one knows where the night is going ...

And here they take their sweet repast
While house and grounds dissolve
And one by one the guests are cast
Beyond the garden wall

And no one knows where the night is going ...

Those who dance, begin to dance
Those who weep begin
Those who earnestly are lost
Are lost and lost again

And no one knows where the night is going ...

One by the guests arrive
The guests are coming through
The broken-hearted many
The open-hearted few

And no one knows where the night is going ...

Unwanted guests= refugees 

June 20 World Refugee Day

Today is World refugee day.

"Who are you?"

"I'm a refugee."

You no longer belong to humanity.

I just found a great woman Ashley Cecil that did the left watercolor for 2007 World Refugee Day. At her blog Painting with a cause she raises many issues about refugees and her art is engaged to human rights and politics. It makes me feel so happy that there are people doing what they can! We have to do even if a post remembering that today is the World day of Refugees a condition that is unacceptable.

I did a post about Darfur refugees in 2010. Nothing has changed. Refugees is not a permanent condition! How many people are refugees? How many are becoming?

Is The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees really doing a good work?

For how long will we 'celebrate' this day?

Refugees in Darfur: send them reading glasses and books

This is at The Book Wish Foundation: Peepers Fun Reading Glasses Donated for Refugees

Posted by logan on 24 May 2008

in

• Chad/Darfur
• Vision

What better way to encourage reading than with the gift of colorful, cheerful, fun reading glasses? Especially in the Darfur refugee camps of eastern Chad, where hope needs a helping hand, adding to the enjoyment of reading can yield big returns in education and mental health. That's why the Book Wish Foundation was so excited to receive 126 pairs of Peepers Fun Reading Glasses, in dozens of colors and styles, like these:

It might sound superfluous to same people that reading glasses were sent to refugees because we think they only need to survive starvation and have some medicines for diseases but a library is being build at the refugee camp for the literacy project. Donate here 2 dollars. A group with new reading glasses in Bredjing Refugee Camp. Note the books in their hands. By providing books and reading glasses to the same people, we are enhancing the value of each. How many lives in this photo have just taken a giant step forward, even if they are still in the refugee camp? The school and children in the background remind us of the lost educational opportunities for adults who need, but don't have reading glasses.

Supporting literacy

Submitted by Lisa Goldner on Thu, 01/22/2009 - 2:56pm.

We will add the link to your site to our bookshelf pages with BookCrossing.com (http://www.goldlis.bookcrossing.com). My family and I help to raise public awareness of the genocide in Darfur through informational labels we place on the books we donate through our BookCrossing challenge project, READ: Respond in Earnest Action for Darfur. We will also advise the San Antonio Interfaith Darfur Coalition and local university STAND groups of your needs. We hope you find growing support for all of your projects.

Read about the forgotten refugee here:

by Eric Reeves at ENOUGH.

"Ongoing human suffering and destruction in Darfur have been largely eclipsed both by recent national elections in Sudan and by growing, if belated, international attention to the imperiled southern self-determination referendum (slated for January 9, 2011). Even more completely obscured by recent events in Sudan, however, is the continuing humanitarian crisis in eastern Chad." ... keep reading.