Today I visited an asylum centre north of Copenhagen. Three friends from my
church and I invited the people living in the centre to a hall which we had
turned into a café with coffee, cookies, board games, music and table tennis.
Every time we have been to the asylum centre we have listened to the life
stories of people living there. Stories of persecution, war, violence,
separation from family members and long journeys without passports. Stories of
leaving home out of desperation.
During my university studies I
did an exchange program in Madrid and stayed in a flat with five other people.
Four of them were from South America and had come to Spain to work and send
money back to their families. Money that would cover school fees of their
children and hospital bills of family members. The South American flat mates
hardly left the apartment, other than when going to work, in order to not have
unnecessary expenses for transport, food/drinks, etc. My 5thflat mate was a Danish
exchange student like me. Attending cultural events and frequenting
restaurants, cafés and bars were everyday activities in our exchange student
lives in Madrid. We had basically gone to Spain for the experience and
excitement of living in a different country and to enjoy life. The South
Americans had left home hoping that economic transfers from Europe would
improve the lives of family members back home.
In the movie‘The Motorcycle
Diaries’ Che Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado leave their homes in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, to go on a road trip through South America on a motorcycle.
They are upper class young students and go traveling based on an adventurous
urge to see and experience new places. On their journey they meet a communist
couple who have fled their town due to persecution for their political views.
The contrast is enormous; the two young guys left home because they wished to
experience something different from their home. The communist couple had left
everything dear to them and would rather have stayed at home.
The travel experiences of people
I met today at the asylum centre, my South American flat mates in Madrid and
the communist couple in the movie ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ represent stark
contrasts to my own travel experiences. First, the motivation for traveling
differs enormously; it is a question of leaving home for pleasure vs. leaving
out of need. Second, I leave home with the assurance that I will soon see my
family again. Many people around the world leave their homes and do not reunite
with their family back home for years or they may never be reunited.
The visit at the asylum centre
today reminded me that being able to choose the timing and destination of a
journey and the date for home coming and reunification with family members back
home is a gift and a privilege. The free choice of staying at home is likewise
a major privilege which many people in the world do not have.
