LAST WORDS FOR THE ROAD

Refugee Super Stars : On helping others and helping ourselves

11/5/2018

Refugee Super Stars : On helping others and helping ourselves

By Lauren Klarfeld
Edited and Translated in Spanish by Leticia Municio Pardo here.
Published May 2017, Light House Relief Blog

Image Credit Marc Raymond

“How… to… volunteer… in… refugee… camps” I typed in google that night, wondering if I had with it takes.
The refugee crisis resonated deeply with me when I heard it was about people who had lost their homes after having to flee theirs for economic or political reasons. In a way, I felt I had lived the same, at eighteen, when I came out to my parents, they didn’t accept it, and ultimately I had to choose between surviving a lie or living my life, staying in a place that didn’t accept me — or leave and look for refuge in a place that did. Since then my home had been in many places, but no so much in my heart....

By the beginning of April 2017, I booked my flight and headed out for a month to the small fisherman’s village of Skala Sikamineas and joined Lighthouse Relief. The NGO’s main activities consisted of cleaning the coast, keeping night watch over the waters, and being there for the refugee “landings”.

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Fear is reflected in everyone in the same way. We imagine the trigger that creates it.

17/3/2018

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A quote for the moment left by Augusto : "Fear is reflected in everyone in the same way. We imagine the trigger that creates it."

That moment when what you see on TV becomes your reality…
We are living historical times – of change and of indignation. The loudest voices are those we hear – but the loudest of all, are still those coming from fear.

Two nights ago me and some friends walked out of la casa Encendida in Madrid, Spain and walked straight into what seemed to be a war zone. Garbage cans were being lit on fire amid a crowd of lost bystanders filming and taking pictures. Is this a joke or a bad movie? Tension rose as the smoke reached high up in the air and more things were catching fire closer to cars – so we went to seek shelter (and maybe answers) to what was happening.
Long story short – after a few hours the riot calmed down police had intervened, and Lavapies looked like a war zone. That night I got home and safe and my life continued though…

That’s when I thought – I had the chance to go home safely – but for some, events like these – going about your daily life when suddenly your city turns into a battlefield is a reality others have lived. Not just for a night, but for years at end.

The riot broke out, out of anger – anger because of the mistreatment that happens daily to those that immigrate, seek refuge and try and make it out there somewhere else in the world. We call it travelling, others call it survival.. It is a basic human right – that if you do not feel at home in your country - you can make your home wherever you want. Preventing that is a crime against humanity.

I am one of the lucky ones – who could move abroad and find a job and equal treatment. I am privileged and I know it. But for others there is no luck. Just survival. So rather than beg they do what they can. They sell us our beers in the streets, the bracelets we never buy and the handbags we know are fake.

The refugee cause is one that affects us all. It is a global cause. We are the lucky ones – but it could happen to anyone us. Go out one day and find your country in war or part of a natural disaster. Then what do you do? I don’t support the riot nor the violence – but I support those who are angry and want to make a change. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Closing your doors and your minds in front of what is happening is selfish.

If you cannot personally help the refugee cause – help those that can for you – send donations to the NGO’s that work for it, help out a fellow person find a job, a home and any other basic need.

Lighthouse Relief and Refugee 4 Refugees are NGO's I've worked with and that make a difference at the shores of it all - help them achieve it by donating ! Thanks and take care !

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Feeding Birds in Madrid : Becoming a childless grandmother at 26

5/2/2018

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Feeding Birds in Madrid :
Becoming a childless grandmother at 26

First reading in Madrid, at El dinosaurio Open Mic

It had always surprised me how the Spanish lived the outdoors differently than the rest of their European neighbours.

For a young Belgian girl such as myself - who knew only of grey skies and rainy weather 350 days a year - the idea of spending more than 2 hours outside was close to absurd. Our social lives were mostly dictated by the weather conditions – and like most European countries that never knew the real pleasures of a long-lasting summer, our social gatherings happened mostly indoors.

In Spain however, it was the exact opposite. And the first time I realised that was during a phone conversation with a friend:

[Phone rings]

“Hey man – what’s up?”
“Not much. Just working on some things”.
[Silence]
“…It sounds really quiet around you – are you ok? where are you?”
“Well…I’m at home…just at home”.

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How to do a backpack : on travelling with emotional baggage

27/8/2016

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How to do a backpack : On travelling with emotional baggage

By Lauren Klarfeld
Aug. 2016
Published Aug. 2016 : Elephant Journal

As I laid out the remainders of my clothes on an empty table and zipped up my backpack, I knew I was trying to pack a mess. I made a decision almost a year ago that I didn’t want to be committed to an apartment, a contract, rent or a job that didn’t move me. That it had all seemed pointless after so many years to work so many hours, not only to support myself since I was 18, but also to work for things I didn’t always believe in. The home I was in, the job I had and some of the people I knew just didn’t feel like ‘home’ anymore.

Some backpacks are made on a swift decision I remembered thinking. Others are planned months in advance and ticked off with a checklist. Certain backpacks are made out of choice, and sometimes others are made because we had no choice... Be it to go far or to go hide next door. When we are making a backpack, there is more to it than just physical weight...

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How to keep a girl who travels...

20/4/2016

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How to keep a girl who travels...

By Lauren Klarfeld
April 2016.
Published April 2016 : The Huffington Post
(The following text uses the pronoun "she" but invites all male readers to indentify with the description as well)

Date a girl who travels they said. Because she will be free and restless and follow her heart.

Date a girl who travels they said. Because she will have a mind that wanders faster than her feet.

Date a girl who travels they said, because she will stand out from the crowd.

Date a girl who travels they said, because she has every bit of freedom within her that you wish you had.

Date a girl who travels they said, but please, know that you will never tame her nor keep her…

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On vacation & In Life : Why we fight so much...

2/2/2016

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On vacation & In Life : Why we fight so much...

By Lauren Klarfeld
Feb. 2016

“If you have someone that you think is the one…don’t just sort of think in your ordinary mind and think, OK let’s make a date, let’s plan this and make a party, we’ll get married. Take that person and travel around the world. Buy a plane ticket for the two of you to travel all around the world and go to places that are hard to go to and hard to get out of. And if when you come back to JFK, when you land in JFK, and you’re still in love with that person, get married at the airport.” ~ Bill Murray

Published Feb. 2016 : Elephant Journal

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On Time...

7/1/2016

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"If you cannot afford yourself any luxuries for the time being, at least offer yourself the one priceless luxury no one can take away from you – your time".

I heard Madrid was a creative and timeless place – and I never really understood it until now. An observation after 9 months here is that the streets of Madrid are composed of 40% of people, 30% of cars, and 30% of handmade-adds – from selling cars to houses, to renting studios or storage space, buying or selling gold, and most of all, a ludicrous amount of workshops on anything (I will never forget the day I saw an ad offering people how to make fire…).

People are exploiting all ways to make money in such creative ways from adds to selling Kleenexes or lighters in the street. And it is sad to see that those in line for food giveaways are not just the hobos. But also the students, the old folks and the mothers…just a few of the disguised signs of a country in crisis.

But while the people of Madrid seem to have resigned to selling almost anything - the one thing they have never given up on so far - is time. It is the one commodity that is never sold and always shared. La Latina and its packed terraces on Sundays will prove it to you, as will the hours at which Spanish people eat (21pm) or the normal time at which they come home from partying (6am). But most of all, you will notice it in the amount of public benches around the city; as if no matter when in the day, there will always be time for a break or an afternoon discussion with a friend or with a stranger – and even more so when there is a ray of sun out. Time as they know it, is stretched in all its extents.

They say time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time; but when your wallet is telling you that cannot afford yourself any luxuries for the time being, at least offer yourself the one priceless luxury no one can take away from you – your time. And while you can always regret some of the things you did, regretting what you didn’t do is far worse. Offer, share or organize your time and do it for the things you love and with the people you love. And if you don’t know what those things are, then take the time to do out and find out. Because time is priceless but also limited…

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On coming home after travelling: The Alice in Wonderland effect

1/12/2015

On coming home after travelling: The Alice in Wonderland effect

By Lauren Klarfeld
Nov. 2015

It’s much pleasanter at home, when one wasn’t always growing larger and smaller and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn’t gone down that rabbit-hole…” (Alice in Wonderland)

Published Dec. 2015 : Elephant Journal, Thought Catalog

There is something exiting in buying a one way ticket to somewhere in the world, and not knowing when you’ll come back. Some kind of freedom of choice, in choosing for yourself when you’ve had enough of travelling, or when you’ve decided to drop your luggage somewhere and build a new home...

Travel tattoos: Why we get them and what they mean

16/10/2015

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Travel tattoos: Why we get them and what they mean.

by Lauren Klarfeld
oct. 2015

"People who believe they’ll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, learn it doesn’t work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you". Neil Gaiman

Published oct. 2015 : Thought Catalog

From the minute that we are born – to the day that our bodies age and pass away – our bodies will follow us through. Some will grow tall while others will remain short. Some will have freckles or birth marks, dark hair or blond hair, a crooked nose or beautiful dark eyes, slim features or strong features…The list of our physical features is endless. And yet we will never choose the bodies we grow into or the bodies we receive…

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Refugee Super Stars : On helping others and helping ourselves

Feeding Birds in Madrid :​Becoming a childless grandmother at 26

How to do a backpack : On travelling with emotional baggage

How to keep a girl who travels...

On vacation & In Life : Why we fight so much...

On coming home after travelling: The Alice in Wonderland effect

By Lauren KlarfeldNov. 2015

Travel tattoos: Why we get them and what they mean.

Feeding Birds in Madrid :
Becoming a childless grandmother at 26

By Lauren Klarfeld
Nov. 2015