"It's not for me. I can survive anywhere. But think of my daughter. She is stateless," she said.
Her daughter was born in Thailand. But the mother is from Ethiopia. Because she was not born in Ethiopia, she doesn't have an Ethiopian birth certificate. And because her mother is not Thai, she does not have a Thai birth certificate. A woman without a country indeed.
Stateless? Stateless, I thought. How in the year 2011 are children born stateless? It sounds to me like a problem that should have been solved by now. There I go again, having too much faith in humanity.
Well, mark that down for one more thing I take for granted in the States. Well, that and Heinz tomato ketchup. Every restaurant I go to in Thailand, I expect there to be tasty Heinz tomato ketchup on the table, and I am frequently sorely disappointed. But that is besides the point. I'm here to talk about statelessness and the good ol' US of A.
While I know that my home country (isn't it nice to have a home country?) has some major things it needs to work out domestically, and a plethora of problems abroad, it gets mad props from me for two reasons. We resettle boat load (pun intended, take that Australia!) of refugees, and we assure that babies born in the US are therefore from the US. No statelessness here, folks.
Having a home country is like having a home base in tag. I know I can run there whenever I need to and feel safe. And while it's exciting to run away from there every now and again, it's just as exciting to run back.
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