If I were to Describe Myself in One Word
Convened by
Session Summary
Whether or not it comes to our realization, refugees and asylum seekers are always perceived as vulnerable. But this does not mean that they are not empowered and can contribute to change. This session is expected to be more like an interactive panel session to provide a point of view on how refugee communities and refugee-led organizations are empowering themselves and contributing to the society through their work in the field. By then, each refugee speaker has the privilege to choose and emphasize only one word to best describe and appreciate themselves.
If you wish to get the tutorial on how to join the session, see the bottom of this page.
This session works best on laptop or desktop with the latest update of ZOOM and Miro applications.
Moderator
Ali Reza
Ali Reza Yawari is a refugee from Afghanistan and based in Makassar, Indonesia. He has keen interest in Computer and Communication in which he studied courses and participated in several trainings and workshops. Ali started working as a volunteer videographer with RDI-UREF in Creative Place-Making Project in 2019 in Makassar. Ali has been a volunteer-intern in RDI-UREF since October 2020 and has been contributing to the story collection from locals Indonesian and refugees from different countries. He is also contributing with the Memoar Project in UREF for Podcast Production.
Speakers
Rafea El-Hawi
Rafea El-Hawi arrived in the Philippines on September 1986, on Student Visa & became the 1st Palestinian Refugee to be accepted in the country in 1988. He is now married to a Filipina wife for 33 years and has 3 children and 1 grandson. He experienced many ups and downs as a Refugee. He worked as a salesman, sales lecturer, credit card agent, and a product distributor during those early years. In July 2018, together with 1 Lebanese and 3 Filipinos, he formed the Philippine Arab Cooperation Council Inc. (PACCI) as a Humanitarian Association for helping the needy Arabs (Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Non-Refugees, Orphans and Widows of Arabs) in their problems. He also creates a group that becomes the center of information in the Arab Community, consisting of 230 members, mostly refugees and asylum seekers. Everyone in PACCI is working Gratis and he hopes that much support will be given to refugees and asylum seekers through his humanitarian work.
Jamaluddin Mohammadi
Jamal is originally from Afghanistan, but he grew up in Iran as a refugee. He stayed in Iran and studied in the University. With the hope to gather with his family that has resided in Australia, he is now in Indonesia waiting for the resettlement. He started to use his time in a positive way by teaching English to other refugees in my room and self-governing schools for refugees. English classes are always full, and all schools have long waiting lists, showing how important education is for refugees. He is very grateful to be the voice of his community. He is grateful to be a refugee because it became the reason for him to meet people who are so kind that think and care about other people’s lives, especially refugees who have lost everything. He hopes one day we experience a world without any hatred, where all people live together, and no one has to leave their home.
Elina Mark
Elina is a 39 years old dentist, originally from Sudan. She is nine years experienced dentist. She fled her country and arrived in Indonesia in 2017. She has since been recognized as a refugee by UNHCR. In Indonesia, she had worked as Partnership Development Manager and teacher at Roshan Learning Center in Jakarta for two years. Currently she works as an Academic Advisor and math teacher at “4all Learning Center”. She has been a strong advocate for refugees in Indonesia.
Syedah Hussain
Syedah Hussain, a Community Manager at Rohingya Women Development Network. She manages the daily operations to attend emergency cases and provide case management to community members. At the Rohingya Women Development Network, she and the team especially advocate for the rights of the Rohingya community through meetings and conferences.
How to join the session tutorial
The session will be conducted live by using the Zoom and Miro Platform (https://miro.com). The session will be opened through a round of introduction from speakers. It will be then followed by the storytelling from the speakers and by the end of their story, the speakers will choose one positive word to describe themselves. After that, the QnA session will be conducted. And this session will then be closed by allowing the participants to engage interactively supports the speakers through Miro platform.
