Humans on the Run

Description

In fleeing sometimes there is freedom, sometimes safety, sometimes sheer survival.
Twenty-five individuals in flight, long disconnected from the certitudes of a settled, anchored existence. They map their journeys when moving to the next village, town, city, country, or continent, in the hope of beating certain death, denigration, and abuse. These stories— rather lives—from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Tibet, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, Eritrea, and South Sudan speak of the many effects of international intrigues and the raging fires of ethnic, communal, and religion-based violence on ordinary lives.
Humans on the Run is a collection of memories of several microscopic journeys embarked upon by humans, in time and space, compelled by political and sectarian strife. It is about homeless lives and textured human experiences in forced migration, when war and violence consign individuals and families to a lifetime of uncertainty. But it is also about how, in fleeing bombs and battered neighbourhoods, life, hope, and resilience triumph against all odds.

About the Author
Kumar M. Tiku has served the United Nations in multiple conflict-affected countries. For over 15 years, he served the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a senior external communications professional in India, Afghanistan, Sudan, Fiji, and Iraq. Apart from UNDP, he has worked with UNICEF in multiple roles, including as Chief of External Communications in Syria. Prior to joining the United Nations, Kumar worked as a media professional in India.

Table of contents

Prelude
AFGHANISTAN
Dreams Are Dreams
In Wilderness, I Lit a Lamp of Light Called School
ERITREA
All I Wanted Was to Play Football
INDIA
Maybe the Birds Are Homeless Too
When Slow Death Followed Murder Most Foul
On the Run, I Filled Up My Empty Spaces Again
IRAQ
I Hear the Yezidis Have Been Hounded Out Before
Living in a Camp Is Never Easy
MYANMAR
Then a Storm Began to Brew
PAKISTAN
Grief and Mistrust Walk Hand in Hand
SRI LANKA
I Find It Hard to Heal Myself
As Bombs Rained, Life Changed in a Jiffy
SOUTH SUDAN
Tell Them Not to Keep Me in the Camp
SYRIA
Who Do I Know Here?
I Crossed the Seas for My Brother
I Will Return to Rebuild My City
Beyond Successive Exiles …
In a State of Weightlessness
She Believed in the Unity of Existence
TIBET
Mine to Keep the Hope Alive
I Don’t Know If Freedom Exists
Across the Mountains, a Hope Called Home
UKRAINE
I Have Nothing to Go Back To
YEMEN
A Future Full of Question Marks
No Time or Will to Be of Help to Others
Afterword
Acknowledgements
About the Author
About the Contributors