We often see heart-wrenching stories on the news about people fleeing their countries to find safety elsewhere. They’re called refugees.
But they’re not always in some far-off country. Some live, work and play among us every day in our community.
That’s the focus of a new exhibit at the St. Joseph County Main Library called “Blurred Lives: Refugees to Neighbors.”
The exhibit, in photos and text, tells the stories of 12 people who came to Michiana between the 1970s and last year, as refugees and asylees fleeing persecution in Viet Nam, Bosnia, Iraq, Venezuela, and Afghanistan, among other countries.
The refugees profiled include Samuel, a radio journalist from Uganda who arrived here in 2019. He had been arrested and beaten in Uganda for being a journalist. His dream is to return to school and become a nurse. He recently won his asylum case and is working to bring his family here on visas.
The exhibit stemmed from collaboration between the library and two local nonprofits who are working to help refugees resettle: United Religious Community and Neighbor to Neighbor. The three organizations had been planning ways to mark Global Refugee Day June 20 at the library when they conceived the exhibit.The exhibit will run through Aug. 1. Andrea Cramer is executive director of Neighbor to Neighbor, a nonprofit she founded to help refugees resettle.
“When we go about our lives we aren’t really aware of who all of our neighbors are and this does a good job of showcasing who some of our neighbors are,” Cramer said. “It also really humanizes the experience of people on the move, especially people who were forced to migrate.
“The hope is that it’s a celebration and also it will just educate us and remind us of the difficulty that can be a part of people coming into our community.”
