COPEAM for… “Refugees Stories: Glances from the South”

A homeless Afghan refugee is reflected in the window of a bus as he waits for transportation to a homeless shelter on the outskirts of the city on June 1, 2009 in Paris, France. Each year, as the conflict in Afghanistan continues to escalate, more and more Afghans choose to flee their homeland in search of work and safety. They follow rumors of freedom and refuge but often end up on the streets, stuck in yet another desperate situation. I recently spent some time on the streets of Paris with several groups of homeless refugees from Afghanistan. Stuck in a state of limbo, unable to gain official refugee status and the right to work, unable to make the difficult and illegal crossing to England where they would be able to gain that status and employment, they spend their days and nights on streets trying to survive. Villemin Square Park in Paris is home to between 150 to 300 Afghan refugees. They store sleeping supplies such as cardboard and blankets in the bushes during the day and at night, after the police have cleared and locked up the park, they enter by sneaking back through a loose fence. They do their best to remain clean, doing laundry and bathing in a park faucet. They sleep through rain and cold temperatures (I slept out with them in June with my nice sleeping bag and woke up in the middle of the night extremely cold) only to be woken up in the morning by the police who clear the park and then re-open it to the public. After coming back they shave in the bushes and all 300 share three overflowing, portable toilets outside of the park, along with the other homeless in the neighborhood. Unable to work, there is not a lot to do during the days. Some go to Internet cafes and try to find out information about which European Union countries may offer them asylum. Others have taken to drinking, despite their faith. Fights have become common and a recent murder in the park has shown yet another danger these refugees face. Most of the men are young and there a