The UF Samuel Proctor Oral History Program wanted to put the misunderstandings of refugees to rest.
The event, “Home Away from Home: Remembering Refugees in Florida,” was co-hosted by Welcoming Gainesville & Alachua County and the UF history program Thursday night in Pugh Hall. The event showcased a video of interviews with refugees in Jacksonville. The audience of 30 people heard from refugee experts.
It cost around $2,600 to produce the film and host the event. It was funded by the Florida Humanities Council, UF Department of Urban & Regional Planning, Center for Humanities & Public Sphere, and Latin American Studies Center, said Seyeon Hwang, a 31-year-old UF urban and regional planning doctorate student.
Hwang, who conducted the interviews in Jacksonville, said the stories of refugees are misinterpreted and lost by the public.
“I wanted to provide an outlet of speech to the refugees so that they can tell and share their stories, which is known to help mitigate and overcome their trauma,” Hwang said.
This project included interviews with refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, South Sudan, Iraq, Bhutan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Gambia and Cuba, Hwang said.
Presenters included Basma Alawee, a 32-year-old refugee from Baghdad, Iraq. Alawee said kindness is important when community members help refugee neighbors.
“The U.S. is built on immigrants and refugees,” Alawee said. “Everyone has ancestors that came from somewhere else. The only thing we ask for is to feel welcome.”
Seyeon Hwang, a 31-year-old UF urban and regional planning doctorate student, opens the event “Home Away from Home: Remembering Refugees in Florida” on Thursday night in Pugh Hall by introducing the panelists before the discussion portion. Hwang, who came to America as a refugee herself, is involved extensively in both local and national refugee advocacy programs.
