Friday 5 June 2009

What does home mean to you?

From film festivals to football tournaments, comedy nights to carnivals, exhibitions, workshops, parties and much, much more, Refugee Week Scotland (15-21 June 2009) is an exciting programme of events happening across the country to celebrate diversity and raise awareness of refugee issues.

This year the theme of Refugee Week is HOME. For many refugees and asylum seekers, a new home in Scotland means safety from persecution and a life without fear. But what does home mean to you?

For me a large part of what home means to me relates to the natural environment. When I was a child, our garden was as important a part of what home meant as was our house. Now I've moved to a different city, the landscape and wildlife in and around Edinburgh mean home to me. When I lived in Malawi for a couple of years, the birds and the lake were as much a vital part of being there as were the students I taught, the friends I made and the colleagues I worked with. When I returned to the UK, I was returning home to the greenery and the familiar birds as much as to friends and family.

Now as I look up into the sky and see the swifts, enjoying their summer home, I know that if there ever comes a summer when they're not there, I will feel as though I've lost a vital part of my home.

Home for Refugee Week

What does home mean to you?
If you're in Scotland and want to include your thoughts on home on your blog, please include the first two paragraphs of this post and link to
Refugee Week Scotland 09.

15 comments:

Rachel Fox said...

What a lovely paragraph to read!
x

BondBloke said...

I concur, succint and to the point as usual - great post.

Caroline Gill said...

Have posted in as you requested (I think!). Perhaps you could take a look here to see if this was what you had in mind. Thank you, Juliet. Anything, can, of course be changed... (I may add to the 'home' bit later in the day once I have allowed my ideas to surface...).

Caroline Gill said...

Thank you for your message on my blog. May I keep your 'second' (third) paragraph after all? I'll do exactly what suits you!

Caroline Gill said...

We'll run with it! Thank you for your latest message :)

The Weaver of Grass said...

Very interesting Juliet - I can't do what you suggest as my computer skills are not up to it - but what does home mean - well I know it is a trite phrase but home really is where the heart is - for me at any rate - as long as my loved ones are there then that is home wherever it might be.

Ascender Rises Above said...

wonderful new banner. Home to me? Where my girls are.

Anonymous said...

Hi Crafty green poet, I was the livejournal person Flor that was working on the poetry month, that unfortunately I didn't keep up with as well as hoped. This summer I'm trying a different project on blogspot. One part poetry, one part health, and one part travel. Check it out. florderisa.

Oh said...

Home is everywhere but "real" home is the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York where I grew up where there are long narrow beautiful roadways and red barns and tons of green.

Jacquie said...

"Home" has always meant the natural world to me as well. It's a bit late here for me to be writing anything very coherent, but in my university studies way back I remember reading about how children develop a sense of self which, as they mature psychologically, gradually extends to include their family and eventually their community and possibly even the world. It's natural to want to protect yourself, and when your sense of self includes other people and the natural world, you want to protect those too. A sense of home can be like this as well. My sense of home includes my family, the shelter where I live, the trees and wildlife around me, my neighbourhood, and so on... It's the place where I feel safe and comfortable and nurtured, a place I hold dear and want to protect. Sometimes home is associated with a specific place, sometimes it's something you carry with you .... Sorry for the late night ramble.

Jenn Jilks said...

Home has always meant My Muskoka!

It changes daily, sometimes hourly depending upon rain, snow, sleet or hail!

Interesting blog on summer haiku - but they aren't all true haiku! There is a debate around translating the genre in English. I'm not sure I can weigh in on it yet. But I do like to play with poetry.

Anonymous said...

Thanks again for participating:)

Just to let you know, you’ve been tweeted!
http://twitter.com/refugeeweekscot

Crafty Green Poet said...

Jenn - thanks for pointing out not all the haiku over at Summer haiku are true haiku, that is always a risk when there's an open access blog set up for haiku, people have different ideas of what haiku are and the blog isn't edited....

Crafty Green Poet said...

willblogforbuttons - you're welcome. I'll look up the tweet... its my first tweet....

Lynne said...

Hi J,
I enjoyed reading what home means to you. I also read the two posts above. Have missed reading your poems. Nice! Your work for preserving our environment is vital.