June was first declared as World Refugee Awareness Month in 2001 culminating in World Refugee Day June 20th. Since then, June has been a time to acknowledge strength, courage, perseverance and resilience of millions of past and present refugees who live around the globe, including here in Memphis!
Refugees are men, women, children who have been forced to leave their home country due to war, conflict, credible fear of persecution (due to race, nationality, religion, political opinion or social group). Today more than 25.9 million people have refugee status, and another 41 million are internally displaced.
But when invited to a final country for permanent resettlement, these neighbors are welcomed into community, provided vital services, and thrive when given the opportunity to embrace a life of peace, freedom, education, employment, and serving their communities.
Do you wish to learn more about the current refugee crisis? Considering we can't host an event in person this year, this is a great opportunity to invite family and friends to watch the same film or read the same book remotely, then discuss over Zoom, Facetime, What's App, or more! Other things to do this week include:
- talk with a refugee friend
- order take out from an immigrant-owned restaurant (like Global Cafe or Naguara Home Made Food!)
- partner with us by giving or volunteering
- learn a phrase in the language of your refugee friend
- call or write state and national senators to advocate on behalf of refugees
- share with someone why you welcome refugees!
Here are some reading/listening/watching recommendations - LOTS to choose from this week or this summer:
Reading List
Books on the Refugee/Immigrant Experience
A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee's Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival by Melissa Fleming
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Brothers of the Gun – A Memoir of the Syrian War - by Marwan Hisham
Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin
City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence
Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Homes: A Refugee Story - by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah
Seeking Refuge by Stephen Bauman, Matthew Soerens, and Dr. Issam Smeir
Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
The Bee Keeper of Aleppo: A Novel by Christy Lefteri
The Boat People by Sharon Bala
The Fox Hunt: A Refugee’s Memoir of coming to America by Mohammed Al Samawi
The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya
The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America by Nikesh Shukla
The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers
The Newcomers by Helen Thorpe
The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri
To Stop a Warlord by Shannon Sedgwick Davis
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria by Wendy Pearlman
Welcoming the Stranger by Jenny Yang and Matthew Soerens
What is the What by Dave Eggers
Graphic Novels on the Refugee/Immigrant/Asylum Seeker Experience:
Illegal by Eoin Colfer
The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui
The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown
Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight - by Duncan Tonatiuh
Zenobia – By Morten Durr
When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed (Published April 14, 2020)
Books for Young Adults
A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi
A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story by Linda Sue Park
Escape from Aleppo by N. H. Senzai
How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child by Sandra Uwiringiyimana
In the Sea There are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda
Nowhere Boy by Katherine Marsh
Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference by Warren St. John
Refugee by Alan Gratz
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney
We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World by Malala Yousafzai
Children’s books
Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Williams and Khadra Mohammed
My Two Blankets by Irena Kobald
Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini
The Journey by Francesca Sanna
I’m New Here by Anne Sibley O’Brien
MOVIES AND DOCUMENTARIES
AMAZON PRIME
After Spring
Climate Refugees
Dheepan
For Sama
God Grew Tired of Us
Human Flow
Refugee
Salam Neighbor
The Good Lie
HULU
Hotel Rwanda
Safe Harbour
NETFLIX
Born in Syria
Fire at Sea
First They Killed My Father
Living Undocumented
PBS
Exodus & Exodus: The Journey Continues
YOUTUBE
OTHER
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