Refugee Project Celebrates World Refugee Day at City Hall

On Saturday, July 9 volunteers from BuildaBridge led creative arts activities at Nationalities Service Center's World Refugee Day 2016 celebration. The event took place in the courtyard of Philadelphia Hall. The event was attended by many from the public as well as several familiar faces from our PPR and PRMHC classes.

Visual artist Arielle led an arts activity where visitors were encouraged to create "prayer flags." Prayer flags originate in Eastern cultures, and were originally used to promote compassion, wisdom, peace and strength (Wikipedia). It is believed that each one's message of goodwill will spread to the space around them. Each visitor was asked to use paint, glitter, glue, and sequins to create a flag representing "What does HOME look like to you?" Among the flags were images of hearts, smiles, and the word "love." We at Refugee Project think that the idea of home being "love" is an especially great example of how "home" can be wherever you make it if it starts inside of you!

Later in the day, BuildaBridge artists Liz, Amy and Arielle led a drum circle and invited visitors to come on stage and join in. Drum circles are an improvisational form of music-making used to bring communities together. Adults and children from all different backgrounds came together to make a harmonious beat. Some were even inspired to dance to the powerful music!

BuidaBridge would like to thank everyone at Nationalities Service Center and our creative volunteers for making this day a success. We hope to see everyone at this celebration again next year!

What's in a name?

S. wakes up every Sunday saying that it's the day for her art class. She looks forward to attending because her teacher knows her name and calls on her by name to lead dance movements.  S. had perfect attendance during the Fall of 2014 because BuildaBridge's art class made her feel important and valued.  

Julia Crawford, lead therapeutic movement instructor, greeting a child at the threshold

S. is one of 51.2 million displaced persons in the world today.  According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this is the highest number since World World II and equivalent to the 26th largest nation on earth.

To S., the fact that her teacher knows her name is a huge reason why she attends BuildaBridge's art class.  Artists, teachers and creative arts therapists are trained in BuildaBridge's Classroom Model, a trauma-informed, hope-infused, child/client-centered approach that facilitates hope, healing and resiliency among populations experiencing crisis and poverty.  A large component of the trauma-informed method is affirmation of the individual, the culture from where they came and recognition of their abilities towards a hopeful future.  Artists learn each child's name as part of this affirmation process and call the child by name when welcoming them across the threshold, throughout the course of the class and when the child is leaving.   Learning one's name is the first step towards affirmation of the individual, becoming aware of their situation and taking action to make a difference.

BuildaBridge has taken that first step and gone beyond in providing programming as part of its Refugee Project serving 300 refugees, immigrants and survivors of torture  since 2011.

Imagine if we learned the names of all 51.2 million displaced persons in the world - we would be one step closer towards a brighter future for everyone.

To learn more about the conflicts that have caused displacement and how many have been displaced, check out the United Nations' The Refugee Project - an interactive map of refugee migrations around the world in each year since 1975. United Nations data is complemented by original histories of the major refugee crises of the last four decades, situated in their individual contexts.