FOR INFO about the Refugee Voices Final Screening on June 19th,  click here!

Refugee Voices is a year-long digital storytelling project designed to record and preserve the stories of East African refugees living her in San Diego.  This project is a partnership between the San Diego Central Public Library and the Media Arts Center San Diego.  Local teens learn high tech media skills and use library research in order to produce two short documentaries that focus on the lives of East African refugees and their experiences living in the United States. 

Refugee Voices II  is a continuation of the former youth-produced program known as Refugee Voices: Life Histories of Somali and Ethiopian Women that produced a video documenting the life histories of three Somali and Ethiopian women, giving them the opportunity to share their stories. Refugee Voices II will continue to raise awareness about the African refugee experience, to help promote cultural understanding and to dismantle existing prejudices.

These projects give voice to featured participants and provide instructive models for leadership, community building, and civic engagement. Youth documentation of residents’ life histories strengthens communities by re-building intergenerational ties, training future leaders, preserving life stories, and offers a model to help other communities’ maintain their cultural survival.

FOR INFO about the Refugee Voices Final Screening on June 19th,  click here!

For more information about the project, please contact:

Farzad Nikbakht

Education Coordinator

Media Arts Center San Diego

619.230.1938 x. 102