I am excited about working with brilliant young minds, phenomenal texts, the Canadian Jesuit Refugee services, and my colleague Julie Mughal in Refugees in Literature, especially the Walk in Their Shoes simulation they've been working on for the last few weeks. In short, their program will be hosted to all on campus to go through a 30-minute exercise on what it's like for a family/ individual to lose their home, their belonging, and find themselves as one of 35,000,000 worldwide in a similar situation.
We've focused on the Dadaab refugee camp, and are featuring the story of Somali refugees who have fled their home country as a result of tribal warfare, a dysfunctional government, and drought. It is heavy work, but we have a responsibility to speak out.
Next week, Wednesday, we'll be speaking.
Yesterday, our students did a trial run and I was beyond impressed by the care, knowledge, and dedication the students have shown in the group work. It's heavy. There's no way around that, but it's always a good idea to know elsewhere to better understand here. We have tremendous disparities in our own nation, but on a global scale the inequities are inhumane. If the future of a Western superpower can't work for a better solution, then who will?
I'm waking up this morning exhausted (this is the way it always is after an extended weekend...taking a few days off adds to the work still needing to be done. But it's work that matters and I can't wait to see how they are received by others. If you're on campus, we hope you'll stop by. If not, I'm sure I'll be reflecting on this next week, too.
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