#WhatHomeMeans for the UK for UNHCR team (part 2) 

Home can mean different things to different people. To some, home is a smell, an object or a feeling, but to others, it may be a food, a pet, or a piece of clothing. Regardless of what home means to you, everyone can agree that it’s meant to be a place of comfort or safety. 

In honour of this year’s Refugee Week, we launched our Gallery of the (New) Home, an online exhibition that aims to explore the notion of ‘home’ by asking refugees, their friends and supporters to share their photos and stories.   

Our Gallery of the (New) Home serves to create a conversation, while inspiring all of us to keep working together to help refugees around the world find a safe, new place that they can call home themselves. 

This is #WhatHomeMeans for the team at UK for UNHCR…  

Sara Guy, PR Manager 

“I have been lucky to have many different homes by choice. Even when I have only been able to take one rucksack with me, I always make space for a photo album. It might be old school to have printed photos but having them on display is a reminder that the most important people are always with me, so I can call anywhere home.” 

Claire Hajaj, Trustee

“This means home to me. My mother gave it to her parents when she married outside her Jewish faith, to a Palestinian Muslim man who had fled his home to come to the UK. My grandparents were also the children of refugees, and my mother wanted to reassure them that she would not lose touch with her heritage by marrying outside their small community. I found it among my grandma’s things when she passed. She had kept it with her for all those years. It has travelled with me to every country I have lived in – more than seven so far! It makes me feel safe, like my home is a family and their story, not any one particular place.” 

Emma Hett, Corporate Partnerships Manager

“I love reading and cooking, so this picture sums up my two loves and is complete with the two loves of my life, Gin & Ger. For me, home is where you’re happy – reading, food and my two cats make me happy so for me, this is home!” 

Sally Holcombe, Supporter Experience Coordinator  

“The fields right next to my house perfectly sum up what home means to me. I try to make sure I go to these fields every day, whether that’s for a sunset run, to watch my dog frantically chase balls around it, or just to get some fresh air. Whenever I’ve been away, it’s the first place I go, it’s my happy place and the simplicity of it never fails to make me feel calmer.” 

Keith Felton, Trustee

“We have a family which is complicated to explain but very easy and wonderful to be part of. Several of us have this statement in our homes.” 

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This post is part 2 of a series. To read part 1, please visit our website here.   

Our Gallery of the (New) Home is open for submissions. Visit our website and share what home means to you.