Refugees and incredible yarns...

 As a lover of yarns - both those used to create garments as well as tell the stories of our lives - I have enjoyed every minute of the Haptic & Hue podcasts created and shared by the immensely talented weaver and incredible story teller, Jo Andrews.  Her stories pull together the threads of the human condition over time and across the globe, clearly demonstrating that we humans are an incredible patchwork of lives, inextricably connected.  As such, you needn't be a lover of cloth to appreciate and gain inspiration from them.  Her latest installment shares the history of the world's first people to be designated 'refugees' - the Huguenots, French Protestants who followed the teachings of Calvin, whose persecution waxed and waned for over a hundred years but culminated in a reign of terror and murder when Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had given the Huguenots political and religious freedom, in 1685.

The horrors then unleashed caused those who could to flee, many across the English Channel, in small boats, in the dark of night.  A sadly familiar story given the waves of refugees of recent years in and from Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and the Congo.  Currently, a grim reality of similar atrocities and human suffering float across our TV and computer screens as Ukrainians fight or flee the cruelty of an unprovoked aggressor - their fate still unclear.  Those first named refugees, were fairly well received in England, as they were often talented craftsmen skilled in the making of gold pieces or silks.  Many of the weavers settled in Spitalfields on the outskirts of London. The story Andrews weaves is one of desperation, man's inhumanity to man, as well as man's capacity for kindness and the strength of the human spirit to persevere.  Do go to her website to either hear or read the podcast and see the pictures always posted relative to the story.

I love the bits of literature and poems Ms. Andrews often uses to conclude her podcasts.  The poem used for this one was particularly touching ~

HOME

No one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark.
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city
running as well.
your neighbours running faster
than you, the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind
the old tin factory is
holding a gun bigger than his body,
you only leave home
when home won’t let you stay.
no one would leave home unless home
chased you, fire under feet,
hot blood in your belly.
it’s not something you ever thought about
doing, and so when you did –
you carried the anthem under your breath,
waiting until the airport toilet
to tear up the passport and swallow,
each mouthful of paper making it clear that
you would not be going back.
you have to understand,
no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land.
who would choose to spend days
and nights in the stomach of a truck
unless the miles travelled
meant something more than the journey.

                                                                                    ~ Warsan Shire

Do give Haptic & Hue a listen.  Wishing peace and safety - is that really so much to ask??? - for each of you today. ~ les