The Unique Nature of a Refugee Story

After finishing Mawi Asgedom’s account of his life from a refugee camp in Sudan to his eventual graduation from Harvard in Of Beetles and Angels as well as watching the lives of 3 refugees in their movement from a camp to America in God Grew Tired of Us, along with reading articles by both Fadlallal and Hron regarding the lives of refugees, I have come to learn much more about what it means to be a refugee, and the life that they go through in their lives in camps and then in the “lucky” one’s trips and eventual lives in America. The largest thing that I have learned, and the one that can be seen through almost all of our texts, is that these refugees are more than just stories, they’re people too. What Fadlallal and Hron are lacking in their articles, is this element. Similar to many mass media stories relating to foreign refugees, namely those in Africa, is that they are called just that, refugees. They are not given a name. Hron’s article begins with many overarching “summary”-like descriptions of refugees and immigrants. They are depicted in a sense of all having experienced the same thing, with no unique stories or circumstances. They remain constrained in anonymity in being described as a group. They are always described as one, singular, group of people instead of many, unique, individuals.

This is where I believe the writing of Asgedom and the following of the Lost Boys in God Grew Tired of Us really encompasses this idea of individuality. They each highlight the idea of a person over the idea of a group. While Mawi does spend a lot of time in his book describing the actions and beliefs of his people, he also counters them with a connection to himself and his immediate family. He shares the personal accounts of his connections with teachers and coaches in High School, and brings forward the emotionally gut wrenching stories of losing both his father and brother to two separate drunk driving accidents. In watching God Grew Tired of Us, we can see a very similar connection. We are not shown a generalized account of what happens when a refugee comes to America, we are shown specific stories of what it was like for each of them. And although they all came from exactly the same place, their eventual journeys are all very different. It would be asinine to say that each boy had a similar or “the same” experience in being a refugee in America. They each experienced their new life quite differently, much like each refugee story is just as unique as the next.