The Welcome Project and Refugee Connect team up in honor of refugees for World Refugee Day soccer event at Xavier University
Cincinnati celebrated World Refugee Day on June 22 with a huge soccer tournament at Xavier University. Before we tell you all about the event, let’s cover a few facts. Along with celebrating the courage of refugees worldwide and showing our solidarity alongside them, educating the public about current issues is really important.
70.8 million individuals have been forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations.
1 in every 108 people globally is either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced or a refugee.
Syrians continued to be the largest forcibly displaced population in the world, with 13 million people at the end of 2018. That’s more than half of the Syrian population.
Refugees children are five times more likely to be out of school than their non-refugee peers.
Only 2.9 million of the 6.4 million refugees of school-age were enrolled in primary or secondary education in 2016. More than half of them -- 3.5 million -- did not go to school.
RefugeeConnect was created to help continue providing assistance to refugees after the 90-day resettlement period ended when they first arrive in Cincinnati. Learn more about them on the website: “RefugeeConnect now acts as a resource and connector to ensure refugees have access to the programs available to them, and that they feel welcome in their adopted community”.
They’ve been hosting the World Refugee Day Cup for six years now and described the event:
“Soccer represents the community as a connector across language and background. For the sixth annual year, RefugeeConnect will gather hundreds of Cincinnatians and Northern Kentuckians born in the United States and from more than 34 countries of origin for a day of celebration of freedom in honor of World Refugee Day. At the center of the day is a Parade of Nations and community meal featuring five local immigrant chefs with their specialty dishes all containing a unifying ingredient, rice. Join us in this day which is an entry point for many who may feel isolated to build relationships of trust and gain networks through soccer, a shared meal, and community connectivity”.
The Welcome Project signed on as a partner with the Cincinnati’s Table project providing food from around the world during half-time and coordinating a special hands-on rice flour mandala with the talented Radha Lakshmi of Utsavastu.
Radha is a Teaching Artist in Cincinnati. She owns Utsavasta and teaches both art and cooking classes and led the creation of a spectacular, both in size and detail, mandala for the event. All were welcome to join in the mandala making process, young and old.
Much of the food prep happened off-site by some truly talented chefs.
Bhim, Nepal: Stir-fried rice with chicken and curry. “We like to share our food, our country, and our culture with everybody”
Manzara, Ivory Coast: West African plantains. “I enjoy cooking because cooking always brings people together”.
Lakshmi (of Daal Baby), South India: Chitranna (South Indian lemon rice). “Cooking is an act of love and generosity. For me, it is very gratifying to be able to create and feed people the nourishing food that I grew up eating”.
Ayse, and Melis (of Rüya) Turkey: Tahini cookies. “There are 7 billion people in this world and we are all connected by one thing – gathering around food”.
However, the fun folks of Firelab pulled out all the stops with their amazing outdoor grilling equipment (their specialty!) Seriously check them out if you aren’t in the know. Their personalities are infectious and the food is just fantastic. They prepped and cooked enough camarones con cachapa for over 500 hungry soccer players and spectators in just a few hours.
Luis (of FireLab), Venezuela: Camarones con Cachapa (shrimp and grits). “In FireLab we cook to strengthen community, connect cultures, and celebrate creativity. We love sharing food and stories from our country (Venezuela) and elsewhere, building bridges between people and cultures using food as a universal language.
Jeffrey and Cal pulled together a volunteer army and kept the event running smoothly. Jeffrey, always calm, coordinated with all the chefs and managed to get every guest fed 😊
The entire morning and afternoon were filled with excitement; music, food, art, a parade of nations, too many soccer games to count, and plenty of smiles.
*All photos credit: LeAnn Gardner
If you’d like to learn more about any of the above mentioned, check out the handy list of links below.