THE BADAGAS SOMETIME REFUGEES IN A NEW LAND

It seems that hardly a week passes without the news media reporting another harrowing account of the movement of refugees somewhere: Afghan boat people heading for Australia, Africans trying to get to a better life in Italy, Ethiopians living in Moscow Airport. Their stories are often horrifying, their health and sheer numbers mind-boggling, and their futures inconceivable. Yet most of these people do survive, long beyond the day's news headlines. Some finally get the chance to return home, while others settle down in another land.Sociologists have developed three categories to help explain the motivations which may lead people unwillingly into refugee status. Some "majority-identified" refugees, people who continue to identify with their homeland but not with its current government or social conditions: they fondly expect to return home at a later date. Secondly, there are "events-alienated" refugees who have been driven from their homeland by force or intolerable conditions, and who doubt they will ever set eyes on it again. Third, there are "self-alienated" refugees who move away for ideological or other personal reasons, including work or educational opportunities.