Feeling tied to your culture is important for anyone. But it’s especially important for refugees who are separated physically by their homes – cultural traditions are sometimes the last ties that bind them to something comfortingly familiar.
Yemeni refugee families living in Mogadishu feel that loss acutely. Mogadishu hosts over 7,000 of them who have fled from Yemen since 2015.
For parents, it’s especially important for their kids to celebrate the culture of home. We wanted to do something to help them come together, and do just that.
We hosted a Yemeni Cultural Day event, bringing together primary and secondary students and their families, helping everyone reconnect with one another after fleeing to Mogadishu.
Both parents and students performed in costumes with props, and cooked up different traditional foods, and filling the hall with the smells of home.
“Today I took part in a mini theater play and really liked,” said Fatima. “I got chance to interact with other Yemeni Refugees and feel that as Yemenis, we have culture that makes us unique.”
This change made possible by the Margaret and Jennifer Kress Foundation, Inc.
