Today I attended the World Refugee Day in DC event.

Today I saw 200 some people who know there’s a refugee crisis come together to recognize those who are helping them, the 42 million uprooted people -- 16 million forced to leave their countries, 26 million internally displaced people and 827,000 asylum seekers. (Reference: http://www.unhcr.org/4a3b98706.html)

It’s not like these refugees are planning their next vacation and pack several suitcases to go. Nor do they have stores where they’re going to buy what the toothbrush, underwear, or snacks they forgot to bring. They go in the night. They run when the “bad men” come. Sometimes with a bag of their most precious belongings. Often with just the clothes on their back.

To give you a sense of scale, imagine telling all the people

To give a sense of scale, 16 million people are refugees outside their countries. That's the populations of New Jersey + Virginia combined. Imagine if they all had to leave. Another 26 million (New York + Maryland populations combined) must leave their homes and move to another part of their country.

who live in the states of New York (19.5 M), New Jersey (8.7 M), Maryland (5.6 M), and Virginia (7.8 M) to get out and leave their homes / belongings behind.

Or telling the people in the 39 most populous cities in the US to get out.

Today I saw a Hollywood star and Today show anchor choke up retelling stories about refugees they’ve met.

Today I became a huge fan of Angelina Jolie -- not for any movies she’s starred in (I can name about one) -- but for realizing she could use her status to help change the lives of refugees and for taking the time to talk with them individually (and even check in with them later).

Today I learned why we don’t hear more in the US news and must look to organizations like the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and USA for UNHCR to tell us. While household names like Ann Curry (who MCed the day and moderated a panel later) want to tell more stories about what’s really happening in Darfur / Afghanistan / Swat Valley / etc., those who run the news bureaus think (and sadly, may be right) that most Americans just want to hear about “popular news” like the latest romances and breakups of Hollywood stars.

Today I saw an audience of 200 people tearing up / crying hearing the stories, including those of the Humanitarian Award winner, a Tutsi refugee woman -- Rose Mapendo (http://www.mapendo.org/about_rose.cfm) -- who received a Humanitarian Award for surviving and inspiring others.

I saw that same woman -- a mother like me -- tell how she was thrown in a Democratic Republic Congo prison with several other families because they were Tutsis, how she learned she was pregnant only after becoming a widow at the hands of her captors / commandants, how she only then began to question and abandon her faith in God when learning she was pregnant, and how she chose her babies’ (she delivered twins -- talk about God having a sense of humor) names in part by thinking of how they might be spared, as the commandants weren’t discriminating or merciful in who they killed. She named the babies after those commandants -- in hopes that the “honor” would help them spare the babies and to show she was not the enemy.

Today I heard refugees expressing gratitude and thanking people like Ben Affleck, Cooper Anderson, Susan Sarandon, and others who have brought attention to the plight of refugees, helped them to escape, or given them money or basic things they need to survive.

Today I heard from a boy in Darfur, who’s been in a refugee camp for the past 6 years say what he wanted. Simple really -- “I want President Bashir to go. I want a secondary school. I want more and better teachers. We want to go back home.”

Today I saw Greg Mortenson (author of Three Cups of Tea, founder of Central Asia Insitute) and Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation) talk about violence and unrest in Afghanistan and Pakistan and how educating the young people is the best hope for bringing peace to the area and ridding it of the Taliban. I heard how members of the Taliban, typically recruited from uneducated families, have left after their newly educated mothers show them the light.

And I heard how US Congressmen, upon hearing about the money Greg and others have raised, gave each other pats on the back and high fives -- taking credit for something they didn’t even know was happening.

Today I heard about Halima, a young pregnant woman send her 10-year old sister running upon seeing the Janjaweed as she knew they would attack her sister otherwise. Janjaweed are infamous for their attacks on women especially in attempts to lighten the dark-skinned race by forced encounters. (Calling it “forced encounters” to pass through filters -- think of a horrible 4-letter word starting with R that victims women most often and that’s what they do) So instead of letting her 10-year old sister be ruined, she took the brunt of it and had to be carried back to camp.

Today I heard Khalid Hosseini point out that any of us could be refugees -- “the only thing separating you from a refugee is something that didn’t even involve you…cosmic lottery.”

Today I was left speechless.

Because there are no words to truly describe what I heard today. I already knew there was a problem. But until I heard the stories, the numbers and far-away places like Chad, Darfur, Burundi, and Bhutan were hard to imagine.

The words above are meant to give you some idea of the problem and atrocities occurring to innocent people, but I fear that only after hearing the stories and seeing refugees themselves will you begin to appreciate that like Ms. Jolie put it -

“Refugees aren’t numbers -- they are mothers, fathers, daughters and sons…they are survivors and the most impressive people I have ever met.”

There are video clips to give you some sense of what I heard. But by themselves, without these same individuals in front of you, they are only that -- video clips. They lose the sentiment and profundity you get from hearing live from people in the same room where you are sitting. People who have escaped horrible, horrible,  indescribable conditions that I could not even have imagined before hearing from them today.

Help the 42 Million -- Every Bit Counts

Today I saw two friends hear about challenges refugees face when they relocate in America -- understanding rent, finding clothes / furniture, driving -- and realize what a difference they’d made on new-to-America refugees’ lives by driving them (one from Liberia, others from Iraq) around or helping them to find clothing and furniture.

One person truly can make a difference, regardless of fame or fortune.

Here’s How You Can Help -- Time, Talent, or Money

Time & Talent -- Write, Tweet, Share, Spread the Word

It doesn’t always mean money. Sometimes telling others means more. Brittani McLeod wasn’t sure how she could help and came up with this video clip she posted to the USA for UNHCR Facebook page after thinking some more.

• USA for UNHCR lists several ways you can get involved
• UNHCR
• See USA for UNHCR’s Campaigns Page to check out other campaigns and ways you can help
• Be Their Messenger

Watch these videos and share them with others.

• Angelina Jolie speaks at 2009 World Refugee Day -- June 18, 2009

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8y-fCeb0yk

• Rose & Nangabire -- about Rose Mapendo and her reunification with her 5-year daughter who was left behind in the Democratic Republic of Congo
• Ben Affleck’s short film for UNHCR’s Gimme Shelter Campaign
• Ann Curry interviews Angelina Jolie -- June 18, 2009

Twitter & Social Media

• Follow USA for UNHCR (@UNRefugeeAgency), NothingButNets (@nothingbutnets)
• Tweet about these organizations on Fridays, including their twitter username and #followfriday hashtags to spread the word
• Join the USA for UNHCR Cause on Facebook and tell others about it
• Visit UNHCR’s YouTube channel and tell others about it

Money -- even a few dollars can matter

Why not sacrifice that soda, dessert, or Starbucks today? That’s a simple way to start.

• USA for UNHCR -- $12 can provide education textbooks, exercise books, and pencils for a student for a year. $33 can provide warm blankets to keep refugee families warm on cold, wet nights.
• Central Asia Institute
• Nothing But Nets -- for $10, you can buy a mosquito net to protect a refugee from malaria
• UNHCR’s Gimme Shelter Campaign
• Pennies for Peace -- donation information AND information about including American schoolchildren in the cause, by saving pennies, writing congresspeople, etc.
• NineMillion.org -- a joint campaign by UNHCR in partnership with Nike and Microsoft, aimed at giving 9 million children better access to education, sports, and technology by 2010

Updates

June 23, 2009: Since posting, I’ve learned of other ways to contribute time / talent / money:

• UNHCR’s Twitter feed -- @Refugees
• The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, on Facebook
• Kids in Need of Defense, an organization led by Microsoft and Angelina Jolie, to help unaccompanied children who come to the US with their legal proceedings
• Social Actions, led by Peter Dietz, with many ways to help and tools (for Twitter, Firefox, etc.) to make it easy