Author Gives Voice to Asylum Seekers in New Book

When Satarupa Bose Roy sat next to a Ukrainian refugee mother at her daughter's school play, both women broke into tears. That moment inspired Roy to write "Where Do They Belong?", a book giving voice to asylum seekers across the Netherlands.

Roy moved from India to the Netherlands two decades ago and found her calling in a Dutch language class. Her classmates included refugees from Afghanistan, Somalia and Lebanon, including one Syrian woman who had lost five children in the war but was determined to rebuild her life.

Through her work teaching English at corporations and interviews with asylum seekers at reception centers, Roy collected stories that reveal the human side of migration statistics. She met cleaners at big companies who work with temporary ID cards, existing in Dutch society yet somehow apart from it.

One of her subjects is Arsalan, a 27-year-old Afghan who speaks six languages and fled the Taliban takeover. He's been living in a Dutch asylum center for over two years, unable to work or plan his future while waiting for papers. "Other people go to their homes at night, I go to my room," he shared.

The book also celebrates success stories, including young refugee women who became lawyers in the Netherlands. Arsalan contributed a poem called "The Road I Never Chose" that captures the uncertainty of limbo: "Decisions hang, my fate unseen, a life on pause, what might have been."

Why This Inspires

Immigration lawyer Jasbir Singh, who joined Roy at her Amsterdam book launch, has watched the Netherlands become less tolerant over his 53 years in the country. Yet he believes individual actions matter, urging people to become aware, vote and treat everyone equally.

Roy admits her message feels utopian in an age of rising nationalism. But she dedicated the book to all people searching for identity, whether knowledge migrants like herself or asylum seekers starting from nothing.

Her timing matters as World Refugee Day approaches on June 20th. Roy's book challenges readers to see beyond statistics and recognize the dreams, trauma and humanity of people seeking safety. "Even if you confront just one person, you can make a difference," Singh said at the book's launch event.

For asylum seekers like Arsalan who rarely meet people outside reception centers, being included in the book gives them something precious: a voice that can finally be heard.