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Books for Secondary Students - The Suitcase

The Story

This time our focus is not on a novel but on creative writing of a different kind, a powerful collection of poems written by refugees who escaped the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian and Croatian conflicts. Over 75 displaced people contributed to this book. Their words tell us of their fears and feelings of despair at the time of the crisis. Some write of their hopes and dreams for a better future. Some long to go home, others write about loss and heartbreak and believe that they can never return home. There are contributions from people of all ages. Some poems are simple, others more complicated but they all help us to remember that refugees, displaced people and asylum seekers are human beings trying to rebuild their lives. These creative responses to personal tragedy work well when linked with the HMD08 Imagine…remember reflect react theme.

A good poem to share with young people is Don’t Call Me That Way by Majana Burazovic, a twelve year old student. Majana sends an important message from one human being to another. In the poem she says

“I know how to laugh too
and I know how to cry as well
so don’t think if you call me
a refugee that I differ from you.
Look at me well
And you will see yourself.”

Whilst in You Won’t Find Me Here, Mujo Mustafic, aged 11, writes about living as a refugee with a heart in another place…home.

• Secondary_TheSuitcase (pdf)