CHENNAI: Take a good look around you. Remember all the meaningful discussions you had with your mother on the swing in the porch. Picked malli flowers from your grandmother’s garden for her puja. Think about all the places you and your friends go to hang out. Those spots in the city that have become landmarks of memories. Now imagine having to leave it all and move within a fortnight.
According to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as of 2017, a total of 65.6 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide. An estimated 2,07,848 people seek asylum and refuge within India alone. Yet, very few in the country are aware of their trials and tribulations and fewer still who are making the effort to spread the word.
One among the latter is Riyas Aami. Inspired by the story of a nine-year-old Eva, a girl from South Sudan, who walked 409 kilometres in 12 days, seeking asylum after her parents died in the violence, Riyas decided to become a part of the #STEPSwithREFUGEES campaign started by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRA). While the campaign aims to cover the distance the refugees are forced to walk every year in order to reach safety, Riyas, a native of Palghat, uses it as a chance to create awareness about the difficulties that fill their journey. When he realised that the 2018 campaign that had spread to 13 countries had no active campaign in India, he ventured out on his first walk — from Calicut to Chennai.
“Enroute, there were thousands of people who were curious about why I was walking from Calicut to Chennai. I told them about my cause and they agreed and supported me. Many people came forth and gave me accommodation and food as well,” he says. It took him 41 days to cover the 1,076 kilometres between the two cities. His effort invited funds from multiple collectives in Kerala, besides the support and kindness — in the form of food and shelter — of strangers he met during his journey.
For Riyas, a journalist, travel had always been a great love. He enjoys walking too, having done it to and from school regularly. With this campaign, he gets a chance to put work and passion together. And he has more plans in store. “I have travelled to northeast India and Bangladesh; a lot of refugees are living in this area. I am trying to learn more about them, then write something about them in the local language (Malayalam),” he details.