Waleed Aljashami, 11, and his little sister, Rafal Aljashami, 3, added food coloring to half an orange and poured baking soda on top. They took a wooden stick and stabbed the powder into the orange, watching colorful bubbles foam out of the orange.
The experiment was one of many children’s activities Saturday at the World Refugee Day celebration at Catalina Magnet High School. Refugees and community resource groups in Tucson celebrated the day with live music, food and children’s games and activities. Community groups also provided information for refugees as they integrate into the Tucson community.
Iskashitaa Refugee Network intern Kiara Evans, left, watches the tower fall as she loses a game of Jenga at the World Refugee Day celebration.
Sara Jamil and her family moved to Tucson from Iraq seven years ago after spending four years in a refugee camp in Jordan.
Jamil said her husband, Haider Darweesh, was kidnapped in 2008. When he was released, their family began a four-year process to resettle in the United States.
The most difficult part about resettling in a new country, Jamil said, is ensuring she and her three children stay connected to their Iraqi culture while also integrating into the United States.
Since moving to Tucson, Jamil started her own business, Merciful Refugee and Immigration Services, where she helps connect people with resources as they transition into American life.
“You’ve been in their shoes and now you have all the connections and have all the services available,” Jamil said. “I’m just trying to help them adjust well.”
Diane Deutsch has also found ways to help refugees as a family sponsor through the Tanque Verde Lutheran Church and Lutheran Social Services. On Saturday, she took the Erasto family’s children to the refugee celebration while their mom was at work.
The Erasto family is from the Congo, but most of the six children were born in a refugee camp in Tanzania, Deutsch said. They moved to Tucson in April 2018.
Madeleine Erasto, who’s family are refugees from the Congo, dances to the live music at the family fun fest of the World Refugee Day celebration at Catalina High School on June 22, 2019.
Deutsch said volunteers help refugee families learn everyday skills that are different than in their home country, like how to use a stove and oven, how to use a card to pay for groceries and how to register their children for school.
“They appreciate everything that we do for them and they return the love that we give,” Deutsch said. “I think it helps me with giving selflessly.”
Ahmed Abdelkarim left Sudan in 2010, when he was 16 years old. After living in Libya, Egypt and Romania, he moved to Tucson in 2017. Abdelkarim said Tucson has been a good city for him, with friendly and welcoming people and weather similar to that of Sudan.
While there are opportunities in the U.S. he didn’t have in Sudan, Abdelkarim, who moved to the U.S. alone, said it has become difficult to communicate with his family since a military council shut down internet access in Sudan three weeks ago.
“My heart is always there because my whole family is still there,” he said.
In Sudan, the military overthrew autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in April after pressure from protesters. A military council has since taken over the country, but protesters are pressing the military to hand over power to civilians. The military council and protesters clashed amid negotiations, and the military has since shut down internet access.
