{"id":2246,"date":"2025-02-10T16:42:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T16:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haella.nl\/foundation\/?post_type=news&#038;p=2246"},"modified":"2025-02-12T14:28:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T14:28:14","slug":"on-seeing-not-seeing-and-asylum-policy","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/haella.nl\/foundation\/news\/on-seeing-not-seeing-and-asylum-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"On Seeing, Not Seeing, and Asylum Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I don\u2019t see very well. It\u2019s not a tragedy\u2014let\u2019s make that clear. It mostly means that parts of my vision are missing, both at the edges and in the center. It can be inconvenient at times. If you point somewhere and say, <em>\u201cLook, a bird!\u201d<\/em> or <em>\u201cWhat a beautiful building!\u201d<\/em> I need more information than just <em>\u201cthere\u201d<\/em> and a vague hand gesture. I click my mouse ten times, wondering why it\u2019s not working, only to realize\u2014oh, there must be a pop-up blocking it. I calmly ask for cutlery in Greece because I don\u2019t see it lying next to me. I dislike digital meetings\u2014too much staring\u2014and I have a special talent for tripping over obstacles I don\u2019t see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fascinating thing is that our brains fill in the gaps. I think I see everything\u2014but I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Not Seeing What\u2019s Right in Front of You<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This morning, I tripped and fell in the camp because I didn\u2019t see a large rock. No harm done. Three incredibly kind Afghan women rushed over, dusting off the gravel and sand from my clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And it made me think of the political parties that today announced they would ignore the Council of State\u2019s advice on asylum laws. They, too, fail to see things. Their brains also fill in the gaps\u2014but incorrectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The asylum seekers they talk about, Mrs. Faber and fellow politicians, are the Afghan family we spoke to this morning\u2014a mother, a father, and three small children fleeing a regime that no one in the Netherlands would ever want to live under. They are the heavily pregnant woman from that same country, the man who comes by every day, hoping his application will finally be approved. It\u2019s six degrees Celsius with an icy wind, and he shows up in just a sweater. His children, at least, have warm clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And they are the three Afghan women caring for an unaccompanied child\u2014who, when they hear the process is likely to turn out well, beam with gratitude and say <em>thank you<\/em> with glowing smiles. (And just to be clear, I don\u2019t <em>do<\/em> anything. I walk along, make coffee, fetch water, and mostly, I learn.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Filling in the Gaps with Falsehoods<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every time politicians talk about <em>the strictest asylum policy ever<\/em>, it becomes even less about people and even more about numbers\u2014numbers that don\u2019t even add up. It\u2019s about the absence of a moral framework. About <em>not seeing<\/em> and <em>yet making assumptions<\/em>. About normalizing what should never be normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This camp is not a place full of helpless victims. Nor is it full of criminals. It is home to thousands of ordinary people looking for a better future, for safety\u2014for themselves and their children. <strong>900 people<\/strong>, caught in a system over which they have no control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Further down the road, a new camp is being built. Far from the city, under even stricter regulations, with even less access for aid organizations. Greece has become the testing ground for European asylum measures. The current camp by the sea is already unbearable\u2014but things can always get worse. That is the harsh reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Difference That People Make<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thankfully, there are people like those at Fenix. They make a real difference\u2014professional yet compassionate, effective yet deeply human. Many of them are volunteers working for free, but they do it with all their heart. And their work is <strong>so needed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more on the political divide over asylum laws, read this <a href=\"https:\/\/nos.nl\/artikel\/2555279-coalitie-wil-snel-verder-met-asielwetten-maar-is-verdeeld-over-aanpassingen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NOS article<\/a> (in Dutch). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don\u2019t see very well. It\u2019s not a tragedy\u2014let\u2019s make that clear. It mostly means that parts of my vision are missing, both at the edges and in the center. It can be inconvenient at times. If you point somewhere and say, \u201cLook, a bird!\u201d or \u201cWhat a beautiful building!\u201d I need more information than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[95,68,100,83,99,97,92,98,96],"news-category":[101,60],"class_list":["post-2246","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-asylum-policy","tag-asylum-seekers","tag-blind-spots","tag-empathy","tag-fenix","tag-greece","tag-humanity","tag-politics","tag-volunteer-work","news-category-migration","news-category-refugee-crisis"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>On Seeing, Not Seeing, and Asylum Policy - Haella Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/haella.nl\/foundation\/news\/on-seeing-not-seeing-and-asylum-policy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Seeing, Not Seeing, and Asylum Policy - Haella Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I don\u2019t see very well. 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