Movie screening available from Friday February 12th, 2021 to be followed by Panel and Q&A session on Monday, February 15th , 2021.
In 2004, thirteen thousand Somali Bantu refugees realized their dream of coming to America. They are now living in fifty cities across the country, becoming the largest African group from a single minority to settle in the United States at one time. RAIN IN A DRY LAND, a film by Anne Makepeace, chronicles two years in the lives of two extended Somali Bantu families as they leave behind a two-hundred year legacy of oppression in Africa to face new challenges in a strange new land.
Panelists from Havenly Treats and Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services (MEIRS) together with the Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) at Boston College School of Social Work will expand upon the themes of the movie, sharing experiences of resettlement and approaches to change during the panel session.
The event addresses the experiences and challenges of refugee resettlement in the United States from the perspectives of those who experienced them firsthand and are now working in the private sector for refugees bridging the gap between humanitarian, financial, community and development work.Please submit your questions in advance to refugees@yale.edu or during the Q&A session on Monday February 15th.
Panelists:
•Rilwan Osman, Director of Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services (MEIRS)
•Nadifa Mohamed, Community Health Worker, Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services (MEIRS) and AK Health and Social Services
•Nieda Abbas, Head Chef and Co-Founder at Havenly Treats
•Siham Osman, Fellow Alumna at Havenly Treats
Moderator:
•Dr. Candace J. Black, Research Program on Children and Adversity, Boston College School of Social Work
Havenly Treats is a café run by and for refugee women. Based in New Haven, Havenly offers paid work experience, adult education, and advocacy training for refugee women from Arabic and Spanish speaking countries, see https://www.havenlytreats.com/aboutus.
Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services (MEIRS) educates, assists, and empowers immigrant and refugee youth and their families toward a goal of social and economic self-sufficiency and mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. MEIRS promotes a pathway toward citizenship and community engagement, creating opportunities for inclusion and meaningful participation for immigrants and refugees, see https://meirs.org/about-us/.
The Research Program on Children and Adversity (RPCA) at the Boston College School of Social Work (BCSSW) is an applied research program dedicated to improving the evidence base of understanding risk and protective factors influencing mental health, child development, and family functioning as well as intervention research to develop and test behavioral interventions for children and families affected by multiple forms of adversity, including armed conflict, poverty, and infectious disease. The RPCA manages a diverse global research portfolio including several active projects, the details for which can be found at https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/schools/ssw/sites/rpca.html.
Register here https://tinyurl.com/RainDryLand-QA to receive a link to watch the movie ahead of time.