Lee to host first Refugee Week on campus

On Saturday, March 19, Lee University will host the first-ever Refugee Week. The week-long experience, beginning March 19 and ending the evening of March 26, will focus on learning about the refugee experience.

“The real goal of this is for our students, first of all, to be aware of what's going on. It's also a learning opportunity for our students to really delve themselves into understanding what's going on in the world today,” said Dr. Arlie Tagayuna, associate professor of sociology and organizer of the events. “We also desire students to reflect about what their role as a Christian in today's climate might be.”

On March 19, a Peace and Solidarity March will begin at the amphitheater at 5 p.m. The march will take students through the Lee campus and will end with a candlelight prayer vigil.

The night’s goal is to “promote empathy and solidarity to those suffering, including those currently displaced by war, natural calamity, or other uncontrollable reasons here and abroad.”

Lucas McCune, a senior criminal justice major, is one student leader who helped organize the route for the march.

“Our goal within this is to partake in refugees' struggles of what it's like to be a refugee and immigrant coming into a whole different country,” said McCune. “From dealing with whatever unfortunate issues they're leaving and trying to start anew. . .there isn't much we can do, but having knowledge of how to lament and pray is a way to build empathy and put empathy in action.”

The week continues on March 22, with a service entitled “Border Stories.” Reverend Maribel Valasquez will lead the service in the School of Nursing lecture hall at 6:30 p.m.

Velasquez serves in the Hospitality and El Elyon Church of God in El Paso, Texas. Velasquez will be speaking about her church experiences on “hospitality” and how God turned her congregation into a refuge for displaced people on the southern border. She provides services such as clothing, food and shelter for people coming from the detention centers until they are reunited with their families. Valasquez has played a large role in restoring the refugee community on the Mexican-American border.

Rev. Mark Adams, director of the Frontera De Cristo, will lead another event on March 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the School of Nursing lecture hall. Adams’ ministry sits on the border of both Mexico and Arizona, and he will be speaking on the theology of the border and recounting stories about his experiences while working with this ministry.

The hosts will also present a movie night in the screening room in the Communications Arts Building on March 25 at 6:30 p.m. There will be a showing of “Under the Same Moon,” a film which follows the story of immigrants coming to America, specifically by the southern border.

Tagayuna said although this movie is “heart-wrenching,” it will give students a glimpse of refugees' experiences while immigrating.

To conclude the week, a “Welcome Party” will take place on Saturday, March 26, from 4 to 6 p.m. in Alumni Park. The International Friends Network of Cleveland will join with Tagayuna and other volunteer organizers for an evening of food, discussions and intercultural engagement

Food will be provided, along with music and a cultural presentation. The celebration aims to provide immigrants within the greater Cleveland area an opportunity to invite the Lee student body into their diverse cultures.

“We would like to invite the Lee family and surrounding communities to these activities as we reflect and ponder on what is going on in the world today,” said Tagayuna. “We believe as a community of faith, we can come together and respond ethically and spiritually to the current world crisis.”

For more information, contact Tagayuna at atagayuna@leeuniversity.edu.