Friday, September 9, 2016
By GUNNAR OLSON
The refugee panel shares their experiences with the audience on Thursda night. (Gunnar Olson/Daily News)
Abdullahi Ali, Jenny Srey and Nykuan Daniel shared stories of their harrowing struggles as refugees and family members of refugees Thursday night at a refugee panel at the Buckham Library.
Members of the community watched as James Bowey’s photography exhibit accompanied stories from and about refugees from South Sudan, Cambodia and Somalia.
Library Director Delane James opened the event by explaining how proud she and the library staff were to host the event.
“It only makes sense that people can come to your library and learn with each other and about each other,” she said.
Daniel, a refugee from the South Sudan, started off the storytelling with her journey that started when she was five years old.
Her father was working in the military fighting the Sudanese at the time when her mother made the decision to leave South Sudan without their father. Although she did not remember how long, she remembered walking for days.
During the process, Daniel and her siblings lost contact with their mother along the way, but discovered she was still alive. They were reunited in San Diego in 2004 and just celebrated their 12th year in the United States this year.
Ali was 12 years old when war forced his family into refugee status in Somalia.
Although he was still young, he vividly recalled the day in which his father was shot 16 times and survived. His mother took him and his siblings into hiding as they thought their father was dead.
With no money, no friends and no jobs, life was difficult for Ali, who also articulated the conditions inside a refugee camp for some members of the audience who inquired as to their conditions.
He recalled his sisters having one piece of clothing each and fearing for their lives and safety. He also spoke of how precious their supply of water was and how they waited in long lines to retrieve enough for the family.
Srey, who is the daughter of a Cambodian refugee and the husband of one, too, spoke at length about her father’s story and how he began his life in the United States.
A local educator voices his concerns of ignorance in the community during Thursday night's refugee panel. (Gunnar Olson/ Daily News)
Of interest to Srey’s story is her current struggle with her husband’s process in the immigration system. Due to a time-serving offense, her husband was taken on Aug. 26 and was detained. They flew him to Louisiana and are beginning the process to deport him to Cambodia, a place he has never been as he was born in a Thai refugee camp.
Srey joked that her husband does not know the language and even has a thick Minnesota accent. Because of their children, Srey and their immigration lawyers are filing for hardship to try to get her husband back, but her family’s struggles with the immigration process loom large today.
One citizen, Dan Burns, who has served 42 years as an educator with South Central College and the Faribault School District, stood to address the panel, but directed his comments largely toward the leaders of Faribault.
“Who is helping you?” he asked. “This year we will elect a new mayor, new city councilors and new School Board members. Where are they? This is the year we will take a step up.”
He called on the people in the room to enact their vote and create change and expressed hope that this was the year that Faribault’s governing bodies begin to reflect diversity in town.
“I’m disappointed we don’t have people here from the clergy, from our local government,” he said.
When asked why, he noted, “Change is scary.”
He cited the “Citizens of Faribault” Facebook group and a recent thread within it regarding the Somali event held at Central Park on Sunday afternoon. One commenter in the group said that Somali residents should have to attend an American event to learn American customs.
From there, over 100 comments ensued, he said, some of them chastising the commenter for ignorance, but many jumping on the criticism of the event.
“That kind of hatred is pure ignorance,” said Burns. “Plain and simple ignorance. It goes from generation to generation, too.”
Photographer and journalist James Bowey addresses the crowd who attended Thursday night's refugee panel in Faribault. (Gunnar Olson/ Daily News)
He went on to note that the city’s institutions, like the schools and the churches, have a responsibility to help end “this hatred.”
Exacerbated after his speech, Burns simply said, “Come on, folks, we are all in this together.”
Another speaker, Lisa Reuvers, explained that fear is a problem in Faribault and believed that people in the community have been consumed by it.
“Our common humanity is lost. People are lost,” she said before offering a solution. “Let’s go out and say all the wonderful things that we see in the community. From there we can build stories and relationships.”
Sam Ouk, who helped organize the event as part of the Faribault Diversity Coalition, explained to the group that Faribault has given a lot of hope to refugees and other immigrants.
He added that Americans have to make strides to make refugee lives better because, if not in America, they have nowhere else to go. He urged everyone in attendance to focus their efforts on accepting refugees.
Finally, James Bowey took the podium one last time to try to sum up the conversation that he deemed, “The best community conversation to date.”
He dispelled numerous myths about the negative impacts of refugees on American societies. For example, he noted that immigrant and refugee incarceration rates were significantly lower than those of native citizens.
His final point, however, came on the final slide of his presentation. He used one word to sum up the opportunity Faribault can give to a refugee.
The slide read, “Hope.”