Finding ‘Home’: An occasional series exploring what it means to belong

Jul 17, 2018 by

The life experiences that divide them would seem almost insurmountable: the Syrian torn from his community by war, the pensioner in a small English town, the recently deported migrant, the family uprooted by climate change.

Yet they are often in search of the same thing: a sense of home.

That powerful desire looms large on the world stage, especially as society’s conventional markers vanish. When disrupted by violence, record migration, job loss, or changing demographics, the consequences ripple widely.

Many of them are harsh. But a more constructive influence is at work, as well. That hope and vision is the focus of Finding ‘Home.’

  • Cooperative communities keep Spanish seniors cared for

    Eldercare is a mounting problem in Spain as younger people move away from their traditional homes. So older people are taking care of the problem themselves – in self-managed cooperatives.

  • Syrian students find an unlikely home, and hope, in Mexico

    Disorienting as migration may be, most newcomers to Europe can count on finding peers who share their language, faith, and traditions. Largely isolated from their countrymen, a small group of Syrian students in Mexico are striving to build community.

  • How a mosque gained a foothold in a resistant British town

    In a country where immigrant newcomers often complain they do not feel welcome, and where many indigenous Britons say they no longer feel at home, the town of Lincoln’s example suggests that home-making does not have to be a zero-sum game. Part of an occasional series on Finding ‘Home.’

  • In an Ohio town, fostering community over cream puffs

    Moving cross-country to a tiny rural town to open a new bakery may not seem like a recipe for success. But the search for a close-knit community and a less expensive, simpler life led one family to give it a try.

  • In Baghdad, a sense of home resurfaces a decade after ethnic cleansing

    The Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Adel was the site of a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Shiites at the height of Iraq’s sectarian strife. But in a testament to the universal pull of “home,” Shiite former residents have been trickling back, surfacing fond memories of the old days and recalling how some Sunnis helped them. First in an occasional series on Finding ‘Home.’

  • As Hungary votes, memories of a mythical past loom large

    Ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary election Sunday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is framing Hungary as a homogeneous Christian nation standing against a migrant tide. But the country’s national identity may be proving hollow and fragile. Part of an occasional series on Finding ‘Home.’

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