Refugees, migrants and jobs

Are they true refugees, defined as fleeing persecution, or “mere” migrants, seeking opportunity better than can be found at home?  Does the distinction even matter?  In either case, they are hungry, homeless, needy and foreign. Most likely, their faith and customs differ from the country where they are seeking help.  Race as well as ethnicity may add complications to their entry.

The refugee crisis has been on the news for so long that many of us are jaded, no longer giving it much thought.  It all seems helpless, beyond our capacity to make any difference.

Yet these people living miserably in camps around Europe might have been welcomed, had they come to Europe or the UK or US in better economic times.  What if there were not already great numbers of unemployed and underemployed workers, especially youth, in the host countries?  What if we, potential host countries, agreed to use this enormous new supply of labor to invest in roads, schools, parks, early childhood education, expanded medical facilities? Paid jobs provide stimulus to the economy, particularly when the workers are spending their wages on basic necessities, locally. Employing the unemployed is a win-win for all.  Persuading government to invest funds directly or indirectly into creating these jobs might help solve the crisis.

Famine and violence In Turkey from the late 19^th century and well into the 1920s created many refugees.  They pressed the resources of cities; so did numerous migrants fleeing religious persecution. They needed shelter, food, clothing and work.

Historically, international religious organizations such as Christian missions and churches and private businesses have filled some of these needs.  Private businesses, whether a lone carpenter or a small local shop would find new workers among these displaced groups.  Similarly, a trade group operating internationally found merchant seamen and laborers.

Often there was little if any help provided by government.  It was up to private businesses, charitable groups and churches to feed and take in refugees and then put them to work, first training them in the skills of rug-weaving, tailoring, baking and building.  Children, with their small fingers, and young women were especially well suited for tying the small knots in rugs.  Thus (in Prelude to Genocide:Incident in Erzerum) the refugee child Serop and his young sisters in law Oskee and Asnee were taught to weave so they could earn their living. Their loving landlady provides them with a loom.  It is given with respect and hope for their future.

In another situation, a Muslim carpenter takes on a young Muslim migrant as a novice apprentice. He needed help, for the violence in Erzerum on October 30, 1895 left many homes partially or entirely destroyed.  Carpenters had all the work they wanted, and not enough hands. For a Muslim carpenter to take on another young Muslim migrant as a novice apprentice was a smart business decision.

Another example shows how opportunity may cross religious lines. The Christian businessman Martiros sees promise in a young Muslim migrant and hires him to learn shoe-making. Martiros, short-handed, serves two purposes: added shoe-making help along with useful reassurance to his many Muslim customers.

Single women were trained to sew and taught new ways of cooking and baking, in order to  support themselves.  Often, as happens in Prelude to Genocide: Incident in Erzerum, they would be given work at the church or school, where students and teachers, priests and others must be fed and clothed. The less fortunate stayed on the streets, dependent on handouts, competing for odd jobs and committing petty crime to survive.

Violence and famine led to enormous relocations and other disruptions in everyday lives.  Then or now, there was rarely a simple path for any of those displaced. As the novel illustrates, most help is temporary.  Longer lasting solutions take place locally and one at a time.  In the absence of government assistance, it was generally up to organized charity, to private business, and to individual generosity to create positive change.  This may still hold true.