Refugees: A worldwide crisis far larger than just Syria

As many people know, around 60 million refugees and displaced people exist in the world right now, many of them fleeing their home countries to travel to countries such as Germany and Hungary. But why is it called the Syrian refugee crisis by many media outlets when there are many migrants from different countries that are fleeing to Europe right now? Of course there are a lot of Syrian refugees fleeing dangers in their home country. But, the media is mostly just focusing on them. There are still refugees that come from other Middle Eastern and African countries such as Eritrea, Iraq, Central African Republic, Afghanistan, and many more. It may seem as though Syrians are focused on because they are many of, if not most of, the refugees currently traversing Europe. But, 2.6 million refugees from Afghanistan fled to Europe in 2014 but it was not called the Afghan refugee crisis. The main reason why I have an issue with the miswording is because I have an aunt who fled Sudan with three of her children to a better life in Europe. Her other two children, who are a bit older, left before she and the rest of her children left. The children that were with her ranged from 12-16, the age range that I am in now. Putting myself in their situation blows my mind. They took buses from Sudan to Libya not knowing where their future would lay. Once they arrived in Libya, smugglers asked for $4,000 to transport them to safety. They didn't have the means to pay so they contacted my mom and the rest of her family. My whole family contributed and sent the $4,000. Later, when they finally got a boat that would take them to Europe, they were told to pay another $6,000. My family members that contributed the original amount were outraged because of the price but once again everybody got together and sent the $6,000. Over all, it took them $10,000 just to go to Europe, a price they wouldn’t have been able to pay without their America-based relatives. Thinking about the families who flee and do not have family or friends in a first world country that could help them with the finances saddens me. When my aunt and her three kids finally arrived in Europe, they first entered Italy. From Italy they were sent to Switzerland. They are currently in Switzerland but were recently told that they might need to go back to Italy. My aunt really does not know where her and her kids’ future lays because she has not been granted asylum status which gives her the legal right to live and work in the country that gives it to her.My aunt and her children did not come from Syria but they are still refugees. This is just one of the many different stories of refugees that come from different countries. These refugees are not just Syrian refugees, yet the miswording in news stories and coverages could make it seem like only Syrians are fleeing. Terminology is very important because it can misleading, wrong and, without acknowledging other countries, many brave people’s stories will not be shared.