The world of Tzu Chi June 2021 (Vol.135)

2021 • 06 06 L ife was simple and happy for 16-year- old Dal En Lam, who grew up in rural Myanmar, a country endowed with scenic landscapes and natural beauty. Each day he would help his father grow vegetables in the fields. He saw the best of nature in the fields, but witnessed the worst of humanity when he saw his mother lying naked in a pool of blood. Earlier, his friend had rushed to inform him that his mother had been brutally killed by the army. Fuelled with grief and anger, Dal En Lam’s father confronted and fought the assailant. To save his son’s life, he called out to Dal En Lam to run. Run and run quickly—those were the most important words at that time. There was no time to cry, no time to mourn, and no time to think. He just had to run. As he fled, Dal En Lam took one last look at his homeland, which became increasingly blurred with each step. Against that fading landscape, his future looked dim. Yet, he pressed on. He walked for seven days until he arrived at a nearby village. Following the smugglers’ guide, he fled to Thailand before finally landing in Malaysia. “Sometimes we walked, sometimes we rode on a bus. The worst time, I remember, was having to go without food for a week. When I arrived here, my friends from my hometown informed me that my father was dead,” he shared, with a pain no one could possibly comprehend. It was a rough journey not only for Dal En Lam, but for many refugees who seek refuge in a foreign land, seeking that desperate ray of light. Having experienced the brutality of life—standing helpless, watching your mother’s body slashed and stained with cold blood—there was nothing that could be worse. Dal En Lam’s story speaks of the plight of millions of refugees who leave their families behind in search of a better future, overcoming all odds just to survive. To make a living. To enable someone back home to survive. Running from the police and surviving on one meal a day was not unfamiliar. Bruised emotionally and physically, they could not afford treatment but just to soldier on. For a better tomorrow, perhaps. According to the Mid-Year Trends published by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in December 2020, the number of globally forced displacement had surpassed 80 million by mid-2020. This number is equivalent to the total population of Germany or Turkey, which is almost 2.5 times that of Malaysia. It is alarming that more than 80 million people are at risk of losing their most basic entitlement as a human being. The right to life is a basic human right according to the United States Declaration of Independence : “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Article 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights elaborate: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Sadly, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that in 2019, there was an estimated 19 million internally displaced children globally. eature