Last Tuesday, DU’s International Living and Learning Community (ILLC) collaborated with the African Community Center (ACC) to host a group of refugees in Davis Auditorium, where they each shared stories of success and struggle on their journeys to Denver. The event, called “Voices of Refugees” (V.O.R.), was a fundraiser for the ACC, a Denver-based program office that assists in resettling refugees in Denver.
According to their website, the ILLC is a 34-member student fellowship housed in Centennial Halls whose mission is to promote an active community of engaged learners who gain cultural awareness, understanding and respect for other societies at the local and global level through academics and service projects.
ILLC members Andrew Wood, an international studies major from Chicago, Daniela Chavez, a business major from Thornton and Amanda Pennington, a psychology major from Pierce, Colo., prepared DU for its fifth annual “Voices of Refugees” with the help of Matt Watts, outreach coordinator at ACC and ILLC Program Coordinator Hanna Kadlec.
The students turned to WebCentral, Facebook, flyers and newsletters to market the event across campus, inviting students and faculty to learn about the hardships and triumphs of local refugees. They worked with Kaladi Coffee, King Soopers and Sodexo to secure donations and gift cards.
“Denver is quite a refugee hub,” said Pennington. “And especially on this campus where there’s a large focus on diversity and understanding different cultures, it was important to give students the opportunity to hear these stories first-hand. Painful stories that are difficult to tell from a stage to a group of people.”
The suggested donation for “Voices of Refugees” was $5 and at 7 p.m., attendees crowded almost every seat in the Davis auditorium, listening to the stories of Nasibu Nizigiyimana from the East African Burundi nation, Tin-Tin Pyone from the Southeast Asian state of Burma and the Odari Family, three generations of relatives hailing from Nepal and Bhutan, a South Asian state near the Himalayas. After recounting their experiences, these refugees received questions from the audience. Inquiries included, “What’s something Americans can do to help refugees feel comfortable in American culture?” and “If/when you become citizens, would you like to visit your home countries knowing that you have an American Embassy protecting you?”
Outside the auditorium’s entrance, a photography exhibit featuring professional photographer Chris Schneider’s work showed the lives of refugees around the world after the event, along with various booths offering merchandise handmade by refugees, the proceeds of which benefitted the ACC and the refugees themselves.
As an introduction to the “Voices of Refugees” event, Pennington, Wood, Chavez and Shem Kikamaze, a freshman from Kampala, Uganda studying electrical engineering at DU, created a short documentary, “The Displaced,” to feature in their Global Citizenship ILLC course, a two-credit seminar taken every spring quarter in which ILLC students explore human and economic rights as well as sustainable development and environmental issues.
Released in mid-March, the brief documentary offered a preview of the refugees’ stories and probed into the concepts of intercultural conflict, displacement and cultural adjustment.
“Before we interviewed them, we brainstormed, thinking, ‘How can we learn from them and what can they take from us?’” said Pennington. “How can we cultivate a wholesome give-and-take relationship with these refugees?”
The ILLC works closely with five organizations throughout the year: the ACC, the Asian Pacific Community Development Center at South High School, DU’s English Language Center, Ten Thousand Villages, an independent nonprofit and one of the world’s largest fair trade organizations which sells merchandise handmade by disadvantaged artisans in 38 countries and Abolition, a startup undergraduate organization at DU dedicated to eliminating human trafficking.
In addition to volunteering with these organizations, ILLC activities include numerous cultural events, including dinners at international restaurants, attending international film screenings, opera, theatre and symphony visits, hosting guest speakers (often professors from neighboring universities) and team-building outdoor retreats.
The ACC is currently planning two fundraisers: a 5K marathon on Sunday, May 5 to raise funds for Pyone’s salary, which she earns teaching sewing classes at the ACC, and a fundraiser for Zama Bee, a local refugee woman who was struck by an unknown vehicle while crossing the street along with her two young boys, both of whom were killed.
For more information on the African Community Center, visit www.acc-den.org. To view “The Displaced,” visit duclarion.com/displaced.
