Thursday, November 18, 2010

Book examines experience of Somali student refugees

Author and documentary film producer Debi Goodwin says she wanted "to appeal to the heart and the head" in her new book profiling the experiences of 11 Somali refugees, during daily life in an overcrowded Kenyan refugee camp and then in a new world offered them by way of enrolment in Canadian universities.

Goodwin was the guest speaker in the first of a series of lectures sponsored by Laurier Brantford.

Her book, Citizens of Nowhere, is the result of a desire to chronicle and explore the refugees' experiences before and after they arrived in Canada. The book was inspired by an award-winning news documentary she produced for CBC-TV's The National.

"I'm hoping those who read (the book) get to know them as individuals," Goodwin told a gathering of Laurier students Tuesday.

Goodwin visited Somali camps around a town called Dadaab over several years, getting a first-hand look at the deprivation, sexual violence and the lack of hope among some 300,000 people who essentially have nowhere to go.

Yet, amid it all are young people with the ability and desire to learn.

Eleven of these students -eight men and three women -were sponsored by World University Service Canada to come to Canada and enrol at university.

"I never tired of the project," said Goodwin, adding that her book explores the students' shared experiences of joy and loneliness after coming to Canada, as well as their impressions of and adjustment to life here.

One male student told Goodwin he is shocked by women's freedom of dress here and was disgusted by the sight of a man and woman kissing in public.

Goodwin was the first speaker in Laurier's Lives of Leadership and Purpose series that will feature speakers with experience promoting human rights, social justice and peace.

Source: The Expositor

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