the lucky ones

It needs to be said that, after reading many of the posts below, from contributors around the world, I am not where many of you are. I am living and working in a refugee community in North London. There are 350 languages spoken in this community, 250 of which are spoken in our local schools. Gangs, drugs, and prostitutions are all things that we deal with on a daily basis. Our local secondary school is one of the roughest in the nation. We are surrounded by projects (government assisted housing). We are surrounded by violence. We’ve witnessed six violent crimes, in the past two years, right in front of our house. We have a large Muslim population here, along with Hindus and Buddhists. I could go on and on. But here’s the thing. The people in this community are the lucky ones. They’re the ones who made it out of many of the communities talked about below. In fact, for many of them, they’re the family member who is working their tail off in London, trying to support family back home in Africa. So, no matter what I share on this site over the coming years, please know that I am aware that I’m working with the lucky ones. And please know that I am aware that I am not working in a third world country but one that comes with all of the rights and privileges that wealth and democracy brings. God bless those of you living and working in much tougher situations than I. And God bless the people you’re working with.