Thinking to migrate to where the grass is greener and the weather is always fine..? Global migration has many deep, long-lasting nuances.

My first book, titled 'Refugee Memoirs' is almost ready for publication... Targeting tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands people around the globe, considering migrating away from home-land, for whatever reasons.

You know how there are many newcomers to your country/town/suburb/neighborhood... Do you ever think about what drove them to pack up and go to a foreign place..? Do you ever think you could be better off elsewhere..?

I acknowledge there is a huge difference between genuine political refugees, displaced by force - and those of us who just hope for the 'better pastures'.

Following is the essence of my book and this phenomena, based on my own experience of some four decades, observing the human nature and global socioeconomic/politics, on my journey of migration .

I hope to hear your tips, comments, however critical, please. I will respond and address any issues diligently and discreetly, including in my books' content.

"REFUGEE MEMOIRS, by Tom Zed, 2019.

For my Parents, for affording me a truly perfect childhood and upbringing, despite the tough Communist rule and the Cold War era and that my dad, having been away at sea, as a Ship’ Officer for much of the time, leaving mum in charge of everything, never had any negative impact on me, only makes my memories sweeter, for his returns home…

It never occurred to me to this day (my older sister reminded me about this “dysfunctionality” of our childhood only recently), that it was strange, not having both – Mum and Dad there all the time, but for me, a young boy, fascinated with his father’s ships when visiting onboard and how it was like “Christmas” every time he came back home, showering us with exotic gifts, it more than compensated for the frequent separation…

What a pain I would have caused you, leaving for good, with a one-way ticket, as a teen…

Glad time healed us and that we met again, several times, in my new Life’ incarnations, years later.

With love.

CONTENTS:

I.                Europe, Africa and back to Poland

II.               The taste of freedom and Democracy

III.             The final Exit

IV.             New Life

V.              Domesticated

VI.             Another New Life

VII.           Retrospect

VIII.          ‘Quo Vadis, Domine...?’ 

FOREWORD:

The author of ‘Refugee Memoirs’ took on to emigrate out of the comfort of his family-home and native country, Poland, as a teenager, not knowing, perhaps, the full, life-changing implications laying ahead.

Adventure and the unknown were the real drivers, under the mask of a ‘political refugee’, as was the requirement to qualify for the status and the protection, under the Geneva Convention (Refugees) in “The West” … There were tens of thousands of refugees in the camps of Vienna/Austria and elsewhere, like in West Germany, Sweden, Britain at the time, about a year, or so, before the Berlin Wall fell.

The transition from a relatively wealthy lifestyle to the barren ‘lager’ (Traiskirchen and G?tzendorf, where the old army barracks were made available to accommodate the masses) and queuing for meals supplied, was intimidating, humbling and sobering, especially for a young, city teen…

This book is a personal take on the complexities of emigrating, immigration and person’s uprooting to another place and more importantly – another culture. Today’s globalized, almost border-less world makes it relevant, for millions of people choosing, some freely, to leave their homeland and live abroad/overseas.

Some three decades later, the world is full of refugees, 69 million, to be exact, in 2018 (Ref: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-refugee-day-2018-almost-69-million-refugees-fled-war-violence-persecution/), except this time, most asylum seekers are displaced by war, violence and persecution. It is unimaginable, what and where awaits their future, as governments juggle the intake quota and shy away, under the negative domestic media/public pressure to stop accepting in big numbers, siting economic, political, employment, accommodation (etc.) and religious problems.

The cultural implications looming beyond the “Welcome to Xxxxx” sign, wherever you may arrive, compiling months/years, decades later, manifested by the feeling of social mis-fitting, remoteness and indifference in society, grow over time and never seem to get much better. Or do they...?

The lucky ones who get accepted (into a country), have only two ways in which to choose to assimilate, generally; either by focusing to seek and to stick to their own kin, without much interdenominational mingling in their new homeland, or take the plunge and “when in ‘Rome’, do as the Romans do”… and fully adapting, mixing-in, becoming local as soon as possible, often at the cost of their identity and certainly their original culture (including the mother-tongue).

Embracing the latter, this is the author’s own reflection of both – the success and the failure to make it work, away from the Homeland."

https://www.tomzed.com.au/