On Saturday afternoon, I spent a few hours at La Mesa Presbyterian Church for a Catholic Charities sponsored World Refugee Day event. It was a very sweet time with delicious food, a Peace Circle where we shared prayers for peace in many different languages, dance performances by refugees, face painting, and of course, we made bones (over $50 in donations generated through our Students Rebuild challenge partnership).
Over the course of the day, I made bones with two beautiful women from Nepal and one from Bhutan, with a group of teens from Iraq and Iran, with kids from Cuba and their families, with a few dozen other refugees from Pakistan and different African countries.
It made me think about when I was growing up and what I knew, and didn’t know about refugees. I remember hearing a lot about “boat people” in the late 1970s, and I knew that there were Cubans fleeing their country, but really that’s the end of it. The truth is, as a country geographically isolated (relatively speaking) from so much of the rest of the world, we don’t experience refugees the way other countries do. Even the tens of thousands and tens of thousands more displaced people and refugees that came to the United States after World War “were brought here.” Someone would have to be, really.
I can’t imagine the experience refugees face. Fleeing in the face of imminent danger. Covering miles and miles of harsh terrain. Arriving at camps filled with thousands more like yourself; tired, hungry, scared, with nothing.
These are links to resources that can be used to more deeply understand the struggles that refugees face. They are stories, teaching tools, a slide show, reports, and an online game, and they come from UNHCR, Doctors without Borders, and a site called Beyond the Fire. Some of them are geared for young people, and I’d suggest you share them as you can.
I haven’t been able to get the audio stories on the Beyond the Fire site to play, so I linked you to the transcripts, but by all means, give it a try yourself.
June 20th, this coming Wednesday, is World Refugee Day, as declared by the United Nations.
From the UNHCR report, The 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees:
“States are responsible for protecting the fundamental human rights of their citizens. When they are unable or unwilling to do so — often for political reasons or based on discrimination — individuals may suffer such serious violations of their human rights that they have to leave their homes, their families and their communities to find sanctuary in another country. Since, by definition, refugees are not protected by their own governments, the international community steps in to ensure they are safe and protected.”
“Refugees are among the most vulnerable people in the world. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol help protect them. They clarify the rights of refugees and the obligations of the 148 states that are party to one or both of these instruments.”
History of the legal framework for protecting refugees:
“In the aftermath of World War I (1914-1918), millions of people fled their homelands in search of refuge. Governments responded by drawing up a set of international agreements to provide travel documents for these people who were, effectively, the first refugees of the 20th century. Their numbers increased dramatically during and after World War II (1939-1945), as millions more were forcibly displaced, deported and/or resettled.
Throughout the 20th century, the international community steadily assembled a set of guidelines, laws and conventions to ensure the adequate treatment of refugees and protect their human rights. The process began under the League of Nations in 1921. In July, 1951, a diplomatic conference in Geneva adopted the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention) which was later amended by the 1967 Protocol. These documents clearly spell out who is a refugee and the kind of legal protection, other assistance and social rights a refugee is entitled to receive. It also defines a refugee’s obligations to host countries and specifies certain categories of people, such as war criminals, who do not qualify for refugee status. Initially, the 1951 Convention was more or less limited to protecting European refugees in the aftermath of World War II, but the 1967 Protocol expanded its scope as the problem of displacement spread around the world.”
If you’re in the United States this link will take you to events scheduled around the country. Mark the date on your calendar and check out this list of events around the country put together by UNHCR
We're all agreed that what's happening in Syria is horrific. And on the one hand, it's very simple: People, innocent people, are being killed and it needs to stop. But, for some reason, for me personally, this conflict is hard to get my head around. I'm trying though.
I never thought I'd refer to a website called Institute for the Study of War (and I'm not entirely sure I'll refer to it again) but here I am reading through a report they published on the Syrian conflict, and offering it to you as a resource. This pdf is helping me better understand what's happening and the different groups involved.
This is another source I'm looking at, a 25 minute video called "Inside Syria" at the Al Jezeera site that talks about the dimming hopes for implementation of the Annan Peace Plan and if there are alternatives.
And for current information this live blog is helpful.
I'll be sharing more over the coming weeks as the situation continues and as we learn more. While Syria isn't one of the areas that One Million Bones focuses on, we have to point a light where things need to be illuminated, and where people have to pay attention.
After two and a half years, we have a good idea of the kinds of questions that people are likely to ask us about the work we're doing. One of those questions is often wondering about how we keep going in the face of such a difficult topic, genocide and conflict related crises. It's a good question, and we appreciate people asking.
It's not easy. And some days are more difficult than others. Today is one of the difficult days.
I've been thinking a lot the past week or so about what's happening in Sudan and South Sudan right now. I often say that I find the troubles in Congo to be the most heartbreaking thing I can imagine. I'm expanding that to include the suffering of the people of South Sudan and the border region. I wanted to find something to share with you to bring it back to the fore of our thoughts.
Here's a video that NY Times op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof made a few months ago when he sneaked into the Nuba Mountain area. It's hard to watch, so just prepare for that.
And then there was the visitor we had to the One Million Bones office this morning. It's rainy in Albuquerque today and I thought at first that maybe he was just trying to get in out of the rain. But what he said to us was, "Are you serious?" When I asked him about what, he said, "About trying to end genocide." Katie, Naomi and I all responded that we're very serious about raising awareness about it and doing what we can. He told us that basically it's hopeless, and he left.
What to do in the face of all this? We figure we either do what we do or do nothing. So we keep on and we do it with passion and hope and humor. Which is the answer to the question about how we keep going in the face of all the sadness and hopelessness. We continue to work with passion and hope.
And then there's the humor part. We decided that the next time (if there is a next time) that someone stops in to the office and tells us that what we're doing is hopeless, that we're going to respond by agreeing, closing our computers and walking out of the office with them. Perhaps we'll get a coffee and then we'll head back to the office, have a good laugh, and get back to our work.
Our amazing partners at Students Rebuild caught up last week with Jane McPherson about the Road to Washington Tallahassee installation. See what Zac Taylor, originally from Florida himself, had to say about the installation:
After discovering the One Million Bones project last year, Jane McPherson of Tallahassee, Florida was compelled to establish a Tallahassee chapter. To date, Jane and her students at the Florida State University College of Social Work have helped to organize over 40 events at venues ranging from public schools to evening art walks to the local ice cream shop. All told, the group has crafted over 7,400 bones for the One Million Bones challenge, raising more than $7,400 for CARE’s relief work in Somalia and the DR Congo. Join us as we catch up with Jane and learn a little bit more about her inspiring efforts in Tallahassee!
Teaching human rights through community practice
A long-time social worker and community practitioner, Jane has long held an interest in teaching human rights through community practice. After several months of organizing bone making workshops in Tallahassee, Jane decided to incorporate the social arts practice element of the One Million Bones challenge in her spring course at Florida State University. As a PhD student and educator in the College of Social Work, she felt the project offered the perfect platform for talking with her students about how the practice of social work is embedded in a complex world
For Jane, the universality of an arts project like One Million Bones was the perfect vehicle for her students to not only consider how foreign concepts like genocide and mass violence are linked to everyday crimes (like bullying and hate speech), but to have a conversation with the greater Tallahassee community about their class lessons through art.
One of the first bone making events Jane’s students organized was in the garden at Tallahassee’s LeMoyne Center for Visual Arts. Mukweso Mwenene, a Congolese businessman living in Tallahassee, showed up at the event to make bones.
At first, Jane wasn't sure how Mwenene would feel about the project. She asked him, “Do you think this matters?”
Mukweso’s response astonished Jane: “He said, ‘In my country, the skeletons are all in the closet. The rulers and the former rulers all bear terrible responsibility for crimes and no one sees those crimes. The evidence is completely hidden. When you make these bones, take these bones and put them out in public, then people can see for the first time the evidence of these crimes… This is the way that I think change will happen.’”
April 28: Laying out the Bones
Last April, organizers in 34 states held bone laying events in their state capitals. (On the Students Rebuild blog, we’ve been sharing highlights from events across the country – check them out!) In Tallahassee, over 150 folks gathered under Bloxham Park’s oak trees to lay the 6,500+ bones crafted by Tallahassee students and their families.
Early on the morning of April 28, Jane and her students unpacked the bones and laid them in two piles. At 11:30 AM, a 60’-long black carpet was rolled through the center of the park and folks lined up and waited respectfully for their turn to lay bones.
With music playing in the background, the crowd filled the park, joined hands around the installation, and welcomed a few words from Jane and invited guests. Mukweso Mwenene joined the speakers in offering a powerful reflection on the day’s event: “Bones are like the skeletons in the closet. Our rulers and leaders have never recognized these skeletons and people are bringing them to the air asking people to ask for change.”
For Jane’s students – many of whom helped to organize recent bone making workshops – seeing the bones in public was a deeply personal and transformative experience. Florida State senior Melise Brown told the Tallahassee Democrat that “this project really set me on fire; I don’t know how anyone cannot have a heart about genocide and I wanted to bring it to (the F.S.U. community).” An inspired Melise told the Tallahassee Democrat that she hopes to find work with a human rights organization after graduating.
You can see footage from One Million Bones: Tallahassee’s event in this fantastic 3-minute clip directed by Tallahassee filmmaker Nick Staab:
So what’s next for Jane and One Million Bones: Tallahassee? McPherson is working with students to establish the chapter as an official student organization on campus. She hopes to further equip her students to lead conversations – and bone making workshops – in the Tallahassee community.
In the meantime, Jane’s looking to World Refugee Day as a way to broaden participation in the One Million Bones project. “You see these bones and you see the violence. But all of the living people who carry the scars of genocide are less visible.” We’ll be following Jane’s efforts closely and sharing the latest as it happens.
Monday, June 18, 2012 at 4:16PM 
