Making Home Away

So I sat them down and told them: the five of us are here, me, you and your father, wherever the five of us are, that place should be your heaven.
Discover their stories
The British Academy
UKRI
University of Reading

Hassan

Current 'Home' Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Journey time
Eight years
.
Iraq
.
.
.
.
Jaramana, Rif Dimashq, Syria
.
.
.
.
Lebanon
.
.
.
.
Toronto, Canada
.
.
.
.
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Tags
FutureFamilySyria

A 47 year old father explains how his flight from Syria was part of a wider trajectory of forced migration:

"We entered Syria (from Iraq) in 2011, as the war began.  Syria was a nice, safe country, but it felt a temporary stop from fleeing Iraq until we settle into another country. So, I think Canada is my home because my entire family’s future is better here than anywhere else.  I was lucky enough to have a family member that let me live (with them) until I saved money. A lot of people I think who succeeded have relatives or know someone too I think."

Iraqis Displaced by Conflict by IOM - UN Migration is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

UNHCR figures state that 3 million Iraqi refugees were forced to flee their country since 2014, after decades of conflict and humanitarian crisis.  

 

SUZAN ILCAN

This extract is from an interview conducted by SUZAN ILCAN during 2019 as part of the British Academy funded ‘Lost and Found: A Digital Archive of Migration, Displacement and Resettlement’  project’s Making Home Away archive.

Iman

Current 'Home'
Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Fatima

Current 'Home'
Windsor, Ontario, Canada