Tuesday, 7 October 2014

Where do I go?


Tell me what I am. 


I am a combination of Asqalan and Gaza, Palestine. I am a child being raised in Doha, Qatar, and an adult with no where else to go. A visitor in the one place I've ever known and a foreigner to the place I come from. 

Tell me where I come from. 


Tell me where I come from. I have no passport to hold, no place to stay and no place to return. 

A Palestinian Refugee. 


I'm a Palestinian, I was born and raised in Qatar, I am under the responsibility of the Egyptian government, and they call me - a Palestinian refugee. People are always so surprised when you tell them that you are in fact a Palestinian refugee, because their minds jump to the refugee camps placed in the countries on the outskirts of Gaza, their minds jump to helpless people, to poor people, to people who were kicked out of their countries and have no where to go. 

I was not kicked out of my country, in fact, my grandparents left it willingly, of course with the intention to protect their families, but it was - by choice. I do not live in a country that shares a border with Palestine. I was never poor, to be frank, I've only ever lived and known a more than modest life. But what I share with the refugees your mind usually jumps to when you hear the word is that I have no place to go. My country does not let me back in, and if I were to for any reason not be allowed to live in Qatar anymore, there would be no country I could enter and reside in without hassles and obstacles that I'm not fully prepared to endure. 

Home. 

Home - of or relating to the place one lives

People are always asking "what does home mean to you?" "where is home?" and in truth, I have absolutely no idea. Can home really be somewhere you are not guaranteed a place forever? Can home really be somewhere you haven't seen or walked the streets of since you were 3 or 4 years old? Can home really be somewhere you're only a passer by? 

Where do I go?


- Accepting any comments/opinions :) 

No comments:

Post a Comment