Home, homeland and aliens

Rohingya refugees arrive in Bangladesh from Rakhine state of Myanmar in 2017 (Photo: AFP)

Home is a place always close to our hearts, not only because we were born, grew up and belong there but also because home is where there is love and care.

Our homeland is an extended version of home, which in addition invokes our patriotism.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and long lockdowns, we have been staying home not only because we love and care but mostly to save lives. But this long confinement at home has not been loving and caring for everyone as people are under pressure from loss of work and income, mental anguish and fear of death.

The troubles are even more dire for tens of thousands of internal and overseas migrant workers who returned home penniless and hopeless.

Despite this turmoil, people should remain calm and consider themselves luckier than the millions of poor souls around the world who are deprived of home and homeland.

There are nearly 70.8 million forcibly displaced people in the world, according to United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

People are displaced by natural disasters and conflicts, and they are referred to by many names — refugees, stateless, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, etc.

Maybe we should call them aliens, because they are alienated from what we all love — home and homeland.

50 Years of Truth, Love and Dialogue

A dance troupe kicks off Radio Veritas Asia’s 50^thanniversary celebrations at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB) center in Dhaka on Nov. 1 (Photo by Stephan Uttom/ucanews)

In 1983, 10-year-old Ashik Iqbal was given a small radio and a list of stations to listen to by his elder brother to overcome times of boredom in their village in Bangladesh's northern Rajshahi district.

One of the stations was the Bengali Service of Radio Veritas Asia (RVA).

Iqbal, a Muslim, found the RVA programs very interesting, and became a regular listener of the Philippines-based Catholic shortwave radio service.

"RVA programs can attract and hold a listener's attention for ages. It is a voice of people like me. There are various religiously-affiliated media but the RVA is different. It is Christian but doesn't limited itself within religious boundaries," Iqbal, now 47, told ucanews.

RVA first went on air in 1969, while the Bengali Service stated in 1980.