Imagine yourself in a remote location, separated from familiar faces and places. The location could be a city teeming with people, but nobody there knows you or cares to know you. Or maybe it’s a lonesome wasteland in which you are separated from another human being by scores of miles. The distance — either geographical or relational — creates an unforgiving barrier between you and interaction with others. Not a pretty picture so far. Lonely. Isolated. Separated.

Now imagine that you have been placed in that remote location against your will. You were forced to go to the strange and awful place that feels like a cold, dank prison. Being there reminds you of the warm, inviting home you were forced to leave. Leaving everything that you associate with home, you have been given no other choic…