we want. We can go abroad for our holidays. We may even
decide to study or work in another country for a while. We
can choose to stay there for a long time, or even forever. We’re
lucky to have that choice.
There are some people, however, who have no choice at
all. Th ey have to move from their countries. Some have lost
their homes. Some have lost their families. Some have to
leave because of war. Some have to leave because of natural
disasters. Some have paid people lots of money to travel to
another country for a better life but found a much worse one
instead. Th ere are so many reasons why people have to move
from one world to another. They move from somewhere they
feel at home to somewhere they feel they don’t belong. Th ey
leave behind friends and loving families, and move to a land
full of strangers. In other words, they move from a world they
know very well to one they don’t know at all: two worlds.
We may see pictures of some of these people on the
television or read about them in newspapers. We may feel
shocked2 or sad – but mainly thankful that it isn’t happening to
us. So we turn off the television or put down the newspaper and
just continue our lives as usual. But we should remember that
the unfortunate people we see on the television or read about
in the newspapers are real people. Th ey’re ordinary people, just
like you and me – ordinary people in extraordinary situations.
I’ve met some of them and seen how they’ve suff ered. I
report their stories on the television and write about them in
newspapers.The news reports usually talk about thousands
of people aff ected by war and millions of refugees3. And the
television shows pictures of crowds of people escaping from
terrible disasters. So it’s not surprising that we can’t see the
separate people among the crowds, is it? It’s too diffi cult to
imagine.There are so many of these people, all with diff erent