BRYCS - Spotlight June 2003

Sharing the Future
Celebrate WORLD REFUGEE DAY

Over ten million refugees around the world, and more than one-third of all the refugees entering the United States, are youth or children. The UNHCR, that part of the United Nations devoted to refugees, has dedicated this World Refugee Day, June 20, 2003, to refugee youth.

World Refugee Day reminds service providers to celebrate the strengths, cultures, and unique contributions of refugees, while helping them adapt to life in the United States. Refugee youth share their strengths every day, in schools, in play, and in friendships. And everyone shares by understanding and learning together.

Celebrate, support, and learn from refugee youths’ cultures, languages, ethnicities, and religions. Service providers, through such activities, help bolster the existing strengths of refugee youth, who are surrounded with so many new ideas in the United States. Facing the challenges of a new life here, resettled youth benefit from activities that celebrate and reinforce the gifts they and their communities bring to the United States. Such activities can aid the development of youth, and are an investment in our common future.

One challenge refugee youth face is to integrate new ideas and experiences with their existing sense of self. Developing a positive bicultural or multicultural identity is a complicated task, and they must manage it while coping with the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Through sharing, the future becomes possible. By welcoming refugee youth, children, and their families, service providers share faith in the future, in the United States, in ourselves, and in refugees. With their energy, adaptability, and multifaceted identities, refugee youth hold great promise to enrich both our local communities and our national character.

Resource Ideas

Visit the UNHCR webpage devoted to World Refugee Day (click on “World Refugee Day” above) for information on refugee youth, celebrations in other countries, and past themes and activities.

Local mutual assistance associations (MAAs) and other ethnic community associations are natural partners and sources of ideas for celebrating refugee cultures. Many local resettlement agencies also offer special activities. The BRYCS featured program for June 2003, S.O.U.L., or Summer Of Understanding and Learning, operated by the Georgia Mutual Assistance Association Consortium, Inc. (GMAAC) in DeKalb County, GA, is a good example of a program embodying the spirit of World Refugee Day. Look for similar efforts in your own community.

This month in the clearinghouse we’ve put together a special featured search on refugee cultures, highlighting clearinghouse records on cultural awareness, cultural competency for service providers, and other related topics. You can view this list of resources by visiting our archive page.

You can read previous monthly spotlights by clicking on the "ARCHIVE" link on the menu.