TSOS Utah Presentations in April 2017
Their Story is Our Story: Giving Voice to Refugees (TSOS) will present a series of multi-media programs in northern Utah during the first week of April.
We invite you to attend and hear the story of Aeham, a concert pianist who played his piano perched on a vegetable cart amid the rubble of war-torn streets in Yarmouk to lift the hearts of traumatized children. Or Roya, who was shot in both knees because local patriarchs claimed she was a heretic for advocating for women’s rights. Or Ahmad whose legs and jaw were broken by his sweetheart’s family when he eloped with her to keep her from being forced into a polygamous marriage to an older man. Or Ali who had a leg blown off while going to school one day but later found the grit to walk on a broken prosthetic leg across two mountain ranges to escape mass murders in his village. Hope and despair, depression and resilience, defeat and victory are all exemplified in the dozens of stories collected by our TSOS team.
Our main presenters will be Trisha Leimer and Melissa Dalton-Bradford — both personally involved with refugees in Europe. Garrett Gibbons' film work will be part of our presentation, as will visual displays of stunning photographs by Lindsay Silsby, a professional London photographer, and exquisite paintings by local artist Elizabeth Thayer. At several venues we’ll also be privileged to hear from Syrian refugee Dr. Abdul Nasser Kaadan, who was nominated for a Nobel Prize in literature and now teaches at Weber State University in Ogden, and Lisa Campbell, an exceptional humanitarian who is director of a refugee camp in Greece.
These events are free and open to the public. No tickets or RSVP is necessary.
We encourage you to invite friends and share on Facebook and Twitter.
If you are unable to attend, please consider a donation to support the work of TSOS, allowing us to tell more stories and host more presentations in the coming months and years. Thank you.
Their Story is Our Story is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization under the United States Internal Revenue Code. All donations are tax-deductible. Our tax identification number is 812983626.
Slam the Islamophobia
The Emerald Project is a Utah-based organization that carefully designs dialogues to engage with non-Muslims to make Salt Lake Valley a more welcoming home to Muslims. As many of our refugee friends belong to the Muslim faith, we applaud opportunities that foster understanding and were pleased to support The Emerald Project’s 3rd annual “Slam the Islamophobia” event on February 15th.
Invisible Barriers and Battles: The Mental Health Impact on Refugees
Refugees often risk their lives crossing deserts, jungles, and oceans all in the search for shelter, freedom, or happiness. Yet, even once they’ve reached physical safety, mental mountains emerge that make daily life an uphill climb. At the November 2022 conference for the Utah Chapter of the Society for Public Health Education (USOPHE), presenters Shurooq Al Jewari and Sasha Sloan discussed mental health and inclusion, focusing on immigrants and refugees.
Presentation to University Deans Inspires Inclusion at Utah Valley University.
On January 25th, TSOS was invited to present to a group of approximately 50 faculty and administrative leaders at Utah Valley University (UVU). Specifically, they wanted to understand how forcibly displaced individuals might arrive at UVU, what types of burdens they might be carrying, and how the university could better support the unique needs of these students. UVU is the largest university in the state of Utah, and its leadership was anxious to discuss ways to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for UVU’s over 200 refugee students.