Refugee Awareness Night, a student led event held on April 11, 2016, is a night to raise global awareness of the refugee crisis as well as promote civil justice, peace and unity. The event featured keynote speaker, Blum Center Director Richard Matthew, a diverse panel of experts on refugee issues, spoken word performances, and an exhibit display.
The event was organized by Fresh START in collaboration with the Blum Ambassadors Council.
From the organizers:
“Fresh START’s mission statement is to raise global awareness of the refugee crisis as well as promote civil justice, peace, and unity. This event aims to tie all of our goals together. We will be inviting a panel of people who are knowledgable about the refugee crisis or have exeprienced the refugee crisis themselves. The panel will include an engaging and stimulating conversation about the aruduous journey refugee face, the struggle to obtain identity in another country, as well as the debunk the stereotypical construction around refugees. Alongside a panel, we also want to present the crisis in another perspective: through spoken art. We have invtied a UCI student to perform a spoken word stand up on her own perspective of the global refugee crisis. We will also display a visual arts exhibit; we will be displaying a world map of pinpointed migration routes over the past year, set up ipads and headphones so people can watch video clips of the refugee journeys and struggles, as well as display our papercrane fundraiser (which has a hopeful message inside so any refugee family invited can go home with a crane).”
For more information on the event visit: http://blumcenter.uci.edu/2016/04/08/refugee-awareness-night-with-keynote-speaker-dr-richard-matthew-41116/