The Human Narrative of Belonging

BY: LAUREN RENFRO

I am by no means an expert in any of this. Feel free to comment and challenge what I've written

The dictionary defines belonging as the “fitting into a specified place or environment.” For most people, it is easy to belong -- to their family, to their community, to their city, to their country. It is that sense of security and familiarity with the conditions and lifestyle that allows one to feel like they truly belong to a place. Imagine then, for a moment, being stripped of that luxury. What happens when we no longer belong, when we no longer have a safe place to run to when we are frightened, when there is no home to belong to anymore? That gives at least a glimpse into the perpetual reality of a migrant.

There is an army of emotions that accompanies the journey of a migrant. Fear, loss, anxiety, depression, dread, and a small glimmer of hope that the new life will be better. These emotions are not unfounded. Moving to a place where everything is different -- the language, the culture, the dress, the food, the demographics, the expectations -- can be a massive shock to the system. It can derail people and cause feelings of rejection, of cultural alienation, or deculturation (the loss of a cultural identity). And local people can make the transition even more challenging if they harbour intense fears based in biases or stereotypes or prejudices that are most often utterly inaccurate. Fear mongering in the media and new sources create spurious attitudes that are damaging not only to the people on the receiving end of the hate, but the society as a whole in the long run. There has yet to be any truthful and sufficient proof showing that migrants have negative effects on the host countries. More often than not, migrants add to a country’s economy, boosting GDP and business efficiency. They bring new ideas and new practices into communities that allow for growth and development that would not have been possible previously.

So why is hate and discrimination so persistent?

The ironclad grasp of discrimination is self-perpetuating; the hate is passed down generation to generation until there is no longer a recognisable reason for said hate. It turns into the answer of, “oh, it’s just the way it has always been.” Which is also quite possibly the worst reason to hate someone. There is hope, however, for an end to the cycle. Thanks to globalisation and the ever-increasing use of technology, people are ever more connected and able to understand the stories of others. The younger generations are (mostly) more tolerant and compassionate towards people that are different from them, though there are always exceptions to the rule. On the whole, growing up in a technology-permeated society talking to people they may never see and hearing stories from the other side of the world has given this generation a leg up in the world. And if each generation continues to raise the next with not as “us versus them” mentality but one of understanding and compassion and humanity, then maybe there is hope for a world where belonging is no longer something to fear losing.

This is where the ‘Belonging’ Project comes in. It is our aim to create the potential for a more empathetic population. In the week that I have been in Belfast, every single person I have talked to has been warm and welcoming and more than happy to help. It did not matter race, religion, gender, sexuality, ability -- they were friendly and obliging. The people of this country have already been through so much horror, just listening to the history from tour guides and other people from many different perspectives and hearing about everything that happened, it is amazing to see how far Belfast in particular has come. I would be at loathe to see anyone welcomed less warmly than I was. We are all, ultimately, human and deserve respect and kindness. With the 'Belonging' Project, we hope to further address the biases by bringing the issues to a human level, one where people can connect to and see themselves in the stories of others. We are never too old nor too young to begin seeing the world differently, and if even one person’s life is changed for the better, then the work is not in vain because that one person’s life can go on to touch those of countless others.

These photos and stories and lives are more than separate accounts -- they are part of the human narrative that ties us all together.

Belonging in 2015

BY KEVIN BRISKIN

The Belonging Project launched our Workshop Toolkit, held exhibitions all around Northern Ireland, participated in the NI Human Rights Festival, and taught dozens with our diversity trainings.  Take a look at Belonging's 2015 in pictures below.

Belonging at the NI Human Rights Festival

Migrant Centre Advice and Advocacy Manager Jolena Flett speaks at Queen's University Belfast

Belonging at Belfast City Hall

Belonging at Libraries NI

Belonging at the Migrant Centre NI Annual General Meeting

More to the Stories

BY LAURENCE GIBSON

Having grown up in Belfast I am fascinated by the changing society, culture and landscape. I return regularly to both the North and South of Ireland to work on projects. Initially I was working with a journalist on a story on modern day slavery. On contacting the Migrant Centre of Northern Ireland I met with Jolena Flett. It became quickly apparent through our conversation that there was much more to migrants' stories than abusive working conditions although these are important to highlight. Jolena challenged me as to whether the story we were running was anything ‘new’ to the public’s front page. The phrase that kept on coming up in conversation was "these people are human beings", with the current crisis and migration from Syria, I think this is often forgotten.

Photograph by Allan Leonard for Northern Ireland Foundation

After the meeting with Jolena I went away to think about how better to portray the lives of migrants coming to our country. Having grown up in Northern Ireland I have seen an enormous change in the population with new cultures coming in. It's fantastic. After some months I came up with the concept of the Belonging Project, which after a little discussion with Jolena we started. The main premise being to personalise the topic of migration, to remind the public that migrants are not a cohesive group aiming to invade the country and assimilate the population. These are fascinating individuals from cultures different from our own who can enrich our society, with new perspectives of the world.

The medium of the exhibition was to be still photographs and audio interviews. I had never done audio recordings before but I had seen this medium work fantastically in others work. This was to be a more reflective exhibition than video interviews. In audio interviews with still photographs you allow the viewer time to study the person visually, whilst experiencing them telling their own story in the audio track.

The project has been more successful than both I or the Migrant Centre of Northern Ireland had imagined. From very humble beginnings of five portraits in a makeshift gallery space in the Migrant Centre offices, we have gone to a touring exhibition round Northern Ireland and even being taken to the Southbank Centre in London as part of their Adopting Britain Exhibition. Libraries NI have provided a vital role in providing us with exhibition space in the community around Northern Ireland being the organisation to first discover us in our makeshift gallery night almost two years ago. We have been most helped by funding from a variety of sources without which the project could not have continued and grown. I am so pleased see the project continuing in a new and sustainable direction with the toolkit being launched as an educational resource to enlighten the public as to these valuable people who are joining our society.

The Project has achieved much more than I had ever hoped. Public education is obviously paramount to our mission, but there are many seemingly smaller effects that aren’t so obvious. The simple act of allowing these people to tell their stories and celebrate them in a public context is an enormous opportunity. Allowing them to speak with pride of their culture, and reflect openly on how their life has changed. There are many parts to different individuals stories which can be used to dispel misconceptions and stereotypes of ‘the migrant’, “I had a good life in my home country”, “I cried for the first two weeks”, “I was heavily pregnant with now way of communicating to the doctors and nurses that surrounded me”, “When I am in Portugal I miss Northern Ireland, when I am in Northern Ireland I miss Portugal”. These reflections are vital to humanising the individuals who choose to move to our country. Their reasons for moving are varied from fleeing conflict to simply looking for a better life for their family. Let's start treating these people as individuals not numbers on a government statistics table. We must be conscious to treat these people on an individual basis; just like our own society they are not all good and not all bad. But before we baton down the hatches let us find out who they really are.