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Blog → February 21, 2022

Their Story is Our Story Announces Launch of Community Connections Workshops

Miss Utah collaborating for change


Salt Lake City, UT - February 21, 2022 - Their Story is Our Story (TSOS) today announced the launch of Community Connections Workshops, featuring Miss Utah 2021, Sasha Sloan, and TSOS’ Utah Community Program Coordinator, Shurooq Al Jewari. The workshops are intended as school-based presentations and focus on friendship, inclusivity, and mental health.

“Shurooq and I share a passion for creating compassionate communities and destigmatizing candid conversations about mental health,” said Sasha Sloan. “In these workshops, we reflect on our shared challenges throughout school and invite students to reflect on their own experiences with labeling and social exclusion.”

A former refugee from Iraq and a current student, Shurooq Al Jewari said, “I want to offer these workshops because I do not want newcomers to have the same experiences I had with discrimination, racism, and exclusion. These experiences can lead to mental health issues. We simply want to have a peaceful life where we are included in school and the community.”

The first Community Connections Workshop will be held on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 at 6 p.m. at Utah State University’s (USU) Eccles Science Learning Center 046, hosted by the USU chapter of TSOS. All are welcome to attend.

To request a Community Connections Workshop for your school, contact TSOS’ Director of Advocacy, Sherianne Schow at [email protected].

About Their Story is Our Story:

Their Story is Our Story (TSOS) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to sharing stories of the refugee journey to advocate and educate, and to actuate integration. For more information, visit www.tsosrefugees.org.

Media Contact:

Kandace Hyland

Director of Marketing and Public Relations

[email protected]

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What would you do if you had to leave everything behind?

By the end of 2024, more than 123.2 million people worldwide had been forcibly displaced from their homes due to war, persecution, or human rights abuses.

An increase of 7.2 million over 2023, that’s more than 19,619 people every day — roughly one person every 4.4 seconds.

They arrive in refugee camps and other countries, like the US, seeking the one thing they’ve lost: safety.

Fleeing political imprisonment, ethnic violence, religious persecution, gang threats, or war crimes, they come with what little they managed to carry:

Legal papers – if they’re lucky.

A single backpack.

Sometimes a child’s hand in theirs.

They also carry the weight of what they left behind: fractured families, homes they’ll never return to, professions they loved, friends and relatives they may never see again.

They carry loss most of us can’t imagine – but also the truth of what they’ve endured.

At TSOS, we believe stories are a form of justice. When someone shares their experience of forced displacement, they reclaim their voice. And when we amplify that voice – through film, photography, writing, and advocacy – the world listens. Hearts soften. Communities open. Policy begins to shift.

That shift matters. Because when neighbors understand instead of fear…

when lawmakers see people, not politics…

when a teacher knows what her student has survived…

Rebuilding life from the ashes becomes possible.

We’re fighting an uphill battle. In today’s political climate, refugee stories are often twisted or ignored. They’re reduced to statistics, portrayed as national threats, or used to score political points.

The truth – the human, nuanced truth – gets lost, and when it does, we lose compassion.

We are here to share their truth anyway.

At TSOS, we don’t answer to headlines or algorithms. We are guided by a simple conviction: every person deserves to be seen, heard, and welcomed.

Our work is powered by the people we meet — refugees and asylum seekers rebuilding after loss, allies offering sanctuary, and communities daring to extend belonging.

Your support helps us share their stories — and ensure they’re heard where they matter most.

“What ultimately persuaded the judge wasn’t a legal argument. It was her story.”

— Kristen Smith Dayley, Executive Director, TSOS


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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.