Refugees And Migrants by Ceri Roberts

Jul 12, 20224 min read

This is a must read for all children! This is a short and simple book introducing children what being a refugee means.

I will start off by saying this, no human is illegal. No human is an alien. Anyone should be able to cross a border for safety. Children's lives in the U.S. are not more important than children's lives in different countries. I feel very strongly about this topic and you will see me speaking a lot on it in the future. Let's get to talking about this book! The author does an amazing job in writing important books that are short and easy to understand for the younger kids.

The author starts off by saying this, "Your home is a place is the place where you spend time with the people you love, eat your favorite food, play with toys, and sleep in a warm bed. Sometimes people have to leave their homes because wars, natural disasters, or acts of terrorism have made it too dangerous to stay." This is so important. The author hits an important that sometimes people leave because of who they are and what they believe in.

This book teaches children how families travel to get to a different country. These people risk their whole life to make sure their family is safe. Can you imagine packing up enough stuff to fit in a backpack and leaving so many of your possessions behind? It's a hard concept to look at with the amount of privilege we have living in the United States. Despite what horrific things are happening in the U.S. it is a privilege to live here (for the time being).

The author shows the process of coming to a new country seeking asylum. Every country is a little different. The U.S. lacks keeping refugees safe but that is a conversation for when your children are a little older or when you find it is appropriate to explain. It's so important to teach our younger generation that there is a lot we can do. From volunteering, speaking out, donating and more.

At the end of the book the author shows how you can help. She mentions that you can collect food, donate toys, donate clothes/shoes. She also shows how you can organize bake sales, or take part in raising money to help refugees. She also adds that you can write a letter to the government and ask them to do more to to help protect the people in need. This is super informative child-friendly book that I highly recommend for your diverse library.

I am going to piggy back on this book and speak a little about the process here in the U.S. Speaking about the United States alone, I will tell you around the time frame of accessing a visa. Remember this is an estimate.

Spouses of U.S. citizens: Start to finish about 11 to 38 months.
Spouses of green card holders: Start to finish about 11 to 54 months.
Widows of U.S. citizens: Start to finish about 21 to 56 months.
Parents of U.S. citizens: Start to finish about 21 to 56 months.
Minor (under age of 21) children of U.S. citizens: Start to finish about 21 to 56 months.
Unmarried, adult children of green card holders: Start to finish about 7 to 8 years. 10+ years for citizens of the Philippines. 20+ years for citizens of Mexico.
Unmarried, adult children of green card holders: Start to finish about 8 to 9 years. 10+ years for citizens of the Philippines. 20+ years for citizens of Mexico.
Married, adult children of U.S. citizens: Start to finish about 13 to 14 years. 22+ years for citizens of the Philippines and Mexico.
Siblings of U.S. citizens: Start to finish about 14 to 16 years. 16+ years for citizens of India; 20+ years for citizens of Mexico; 24+ years for citizens of the Philippines.

There are also limits on how many people can come to the United States each year. With republicans in office, that number will go down. This is simply NOT okay. This is why it's so important to teach our children to raise out voice. Be the voice of the voiceless. Teach them the correct terms, teach them that no human being can be illegal and if we want to get deeper, we are living on stolen land so the irony in all of that. Also, looking at it from the perspective of a refugee, do you really think they have this much time to wait? Remember, these people are most typically leaving due to dangerous living situations. Nobody, should have to wait that long and many do not have that option. Put yourself in their shoes, it's to say you would wait or do something differently BUT you have never been put in the situation they have nor you ever will. Remember, the next time you hear someone say, "tell them to just do it the legal way", it's not that simple. I will touch base on more of this in a separate post in the next few days.