Teens create art to in honor of World Refugee Day

American and refugee teenagers met last weekend at Whites Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake to find common ground through open dialog and creating art.

About 90 teenagers from area high schools and more than a dozen countries gathered together June 17 for the Art as Conversation event, said Ann Davis, Whites Chapel refugee coordinator.

The event honored World Refugee Day, which is June 20 and is meant to raise awareness of the needs of people who have been relocated from their homes because of civil unrest and persecution.

“We believe it will be quite a model for other churches, organizations – and God willing – all people who want to see a good sense of belonging among these people that we invite into this nation,” Davis said.

The teenagers spent the day sharing their stories and drawing symbols that represented their lives and hopes for the future.

“When we adopt them, our symbols train us and track us,” she said.

Having the youth drawing as well as discussing the meaning of their symbols is a great starting point, Davis said.

“There might not be a more fertile environment for a merging of kindness,” she said.

The original drawings were posted to portable galleries and displayed at the church, Davis said.

A pinky promise was the symbol drawn by Alisha Sircar, 17.

“I still pinky promise,” said Sircar, an incoming senior at Carroll Senior High School. “I rely on trust with all of my friends.”

Around the pinky promise, Sircar had drawn squiggly colorful lines.

“Everything is connected,” she said. “So, you have to put your trust into everything.”

Using art and symbols to reach out and find camaraderie with refugee teenagers made communicating a little easier, Sircar said.

“Everyone can use art to express themselves,” she said.

Khu Say Doh, 18, drew his symbol as a portrait of himself and his grandmother fishing in Thailand.

“I wanted my symbol to be a memory with my grandma, she is the one I loved the most,” said Doh, who came to America as a refugee more than eight years ago. “My mom had to go to work and left me with my grandmother. In our free time, we’d go fishing.”

Doh, a recent graduate from O. D. Wyatt High School in the Fort Worth school district, said while coming to America has afforded him the freedom to go to school and have a chance to better his life, it still was not by choice.

“Right now, there is still a war in my country,” he said. “Some people come here for education. Some people come for freedom. I came for both.”

Doh has not seen his grandmother since he left Thailand, but plans on visiting her next year, he said.

He also has plans to join the U.S. Air Force.

“If I can, I want to become a fighter pilot,” he said.

Dah Mu, 18, also is a recent graduate of O.D. Wyatt High School and came to Fort Worth as a refugee about seven years ago.

She drew a refugee camp in Thailand and shared her story with the group of students during the event.

“Every day they face rape and murder,” said Mu, who was born in Thailand but whose family is from Burma. “It was not easy, but a great opportunity to come here.”

They didn’t have a chance for an education there, she said.

“Students over there that are my age would have already been married and had kids,” she said.

Mu will begin her first semester at Texas Womens University in August.

“I want to pursue my goal as a labor and delivery nurse,” she said.

America is still a place of opportunity and should still be extended to refugees, Davis said.

“All of us in our backgrounds – somewhere down the generation – are immigrants,” she said. “Very few of us are native Americans. We were all incoming for one reason or another.”

Nationwide, there were 46,403 individual refugee arrivals between Oct. 1, 2016 and May 31. In Texas, there have been 4,209 individual refugee arrivals in that time frame, according to statistics collected by the Refugee Processing Center operated by the U.S. State Department.

The teachings of the Christian faith call on those who believe, to help those who are oppressed, needy or experience injustice Davis said.

“What we do for others we do unto him,” she said. “This is faith in action.”

Having a “humble and receptive ear” to refugees transitioning to North Texas and guiding them through a culture that is alien to them is key, Davis said.

“We are called to be part of a positive response,” she said.

White’s Chapel members are answering the call to help through various refugee initiatives, including mentoring programs and greeting refugees at the airport, Davis said.

“This initiative has been just another symbol of Whites Chapel’s mantra which is: the church has left the building,” Davis said. “We have done so in ways that transcend global borders.”

This story was originally published June 26, 2017 at 11:05 AM with the headline "Teens create art to in honor of World Refugee Day."