My Life in a Bag: Refugees on the Items They Couldn’t Leave Behind

Find out what three refugee families brought with them when they left their homes.

A family of Pakistani Hindus living in Delhi’s Majnu Ka Tila. (Photo: The Quint/Athar Rather)

How would you decide what to leave behind, within the borders that once defined you, and what to take, as you set out on a perilous journey?

Will you take the house keys, as a souvenir of the place you once called home? Will you pack the family photographs, to remind you of happier times? What about the certificates and papers that document your life? Will you take those lovingly embroidered pillow cases? What will you leave behind?

Refugees carry a part of their homes in their bags when they cross borders. These items tell the story of lives cut short, of identities, of home. We ask some families what they took with them when they were forced to flee their homes.

Click here to see the story