A Day of Celebration

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"The World Citizens" team after the Game of Nations

Brazilian, Haitian, Iraqi, Russian, Somalian, Sudanese, and Vietnamese soccer players came together last April to form the "World Citizens" and play the Tufts University soccer team as part of the "Game of Nations" day that concluded EPIIC's year on refugees, migration, and global security.

Co-sponsored by EPIIC and Jewish Vocational Service, with support from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, this day brought together Tufts students, members of the greater Boston community and refugees and immigrants in the region for a day-long international festival of sport and music.

This was an opportunity to bring the refugee experience to the attention of the general public in Massachusetts as well as allowing these newest refugee communities to interact with one another and to share their heritages, cultures, traditions, and values.

This was part of the food court where Somali and Bosnian food was sampled after the game.

Too often, in the experience of the professionals that assist these communities, they tend to segregate themselves. One explicit objective of this multicultural, eclectic event was to expose the richness and diversity of our region.

Soccer, the universal game, demands teamwork and respect for the abilities of one's fellow players. This particular gamewas a physical expression of the integration necessary for a vigorous and vibrant pluralistic society. It also presented a representative, symbolic common space for new communities and individuals who are often initially isolated due to culture and language.

The "intellectual author" and the inspiration behind this soccer game was Sasha Chanoff, a senior employment specialist with the Refugee Program of Jewish Vocational Service and a former varsity soccer player at Wesleyan.

The day's activities included:
-- A friendly soccer game of an "all-star" refugee team -- the World Citizens -- playing the Tufts University varsity and junior varsity soccer teams. The all-star team fielded representatives of the spectrum of refugee communities, playing together for the first time. The Reebok Human Rights Program provided the uniforms for the World Citizens. While the Tufts team won the game, there are plans for a re-match in April 1999. Evans Wise of the New England Revolution also attended the match and signed autographs afterwards.
-- A hall of booths and exhibit areas which presented information from the greater Boston NGOs working with refugees and immigrants and cultural displays and where distinctive international cuisine from the Somali and Bosnia communities was served.
--Performances by the Tufts Kinewe Ghanaian African Drum Troupe (during the game and at half-time), by Capoeira Camara, a Brazilian Martial Arts/Dance Troupe, and the Trio of Samite of Uganda.

Capoeira Camara -- a Brazilian martial arts/dance troupe -- performs after the soccer match. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that was developed among Black slaves brought to Brazil as a literal and symbolic means of survival.

The following is an excerpt from a letter to Tufts University President John DiBiaggio on the impact of the Game of Nations. The letter was signed by officials from the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants, Jewish Vocational Service, the International Rescue Committee, and the International Institute of Boston.

"The Game of Nations or Refugee Celebration Day, was a ground-breaking event for refugees of Massachusetts. It honored the concept of public service in a remarkable way and we would like to thank Tufts for the vision and imagination of this endeavor.

"Through the arts -- music, dance, art, sport, and cuisine -- the Celebration Day gave refugees the rare opportunity to express themselves in their own termsand take pride in their culture. Assimilation is a difficult and multi-faceted process. Refugees must learn about American culture, but just as important is American understanding of the refugee's culture. This day helped to promote multi-cultural understanding, to raise awareness of refugee communities, to build individual and community morale, and most importantly, to empower refugees to help themselves.

"The Somali family Mao prepared food for 250 people. The praise Mrs. Mao received gave her the confidence to start cooking professionally, something she has always considered. She is now the chef at the first Somali restaurant in Boston.

A master musician, Samite [left] is a Ugandan expatriate who fled his country as a refugee in 1982. In 1998, the documentary Song of the Refugee aired on PBS, chronicling Samite's return to Uganda.

"Abdelaziz Mohamed, an award-winning Sudanese artist, held an exhibit and sold paintings. He was subsequently inspired to enroll in the Jewish Vocational Service micro-enterprise program which will assist him in starting his own business."

"JVS received praise from other refugees -- Bosnian, Somali, Iraqi, Haitian, and others -- thanking us and explaining how important this day was psychologically. For refugees the concept of home is charged with war, ethnic cleansing and loss. In a significant way, the Celebration Day -- this concept of integration through the arts -- helped to recreate a new idea of "home" and helped to give life here more meaning and legitimacy."

"Abdelaziz Mohamed, an award-winning Sudanese artist, held an exhibit and sold paintings. He was subsequently inspired to enroll in the Jewish Vocational Service micro-enterprise program which will assist him in starting his own business." "JVS received praise from other refugees -- Bosnian, Somali, Iraqi, Haitian, and others -- thanking us and explaining how important this day was psychologically. For refugees the concept of home is charged with war, ethnic cleansing and loss. In a significant way, the Celebration Day -- this concept of integration through the arts -- helped to recreate a new idea of "home" and helped to give life here more meaning and legitimacy."