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Working Group on Refugees, Europe, and Service Learning

 

Please join our next event on December 2 at 2:30pm ET. We will hear from two TAM graduates, one in Greece and one in Maine, who work with refugees. This will be a zoom event.

 

Please join WRESL (the Working Group on Refugees, Europe, and Service Learning) for a conversation on the global experiences of Stylianos Kelaiditis ‘10 and Tobin Williamson ’13 working with refugees.
These two TransAtlantic Masters (TAM) graduates, one in the US and one in Greece, will discuss their careers and take your questions.
Please RSVP to get the zoom link here.
Or cut and paste this link into your browser:
For questions, please email tam@unc.edu

Stylianos Kelaiditis ‘10

Project Assistant for IOM in Thessaloniki, Greece.

 

Tobin Williamson ‘13

Senior Partnerships & Policy Manager for The Refugee Advocacy Lab, Refugees International in Portland, Maine

 

On Monday, November 18th at 2pm ET we heard from two undergraduate students, one from Elon University and one from UNC-CH, who volunteered in a refugee camp in Jordan recently.

WRESL hosted a panel discussion focused on volunteer work in the Za’ateri Refugee Camp in Jordan. Home to 80,000 Syrian refugees, this is the largest refugee camp of its kind. An undergraduate student from Elon University, Maya Abousaab, and one from UNC-CH, Guy Butler-Felton, spoke about their experiences working in this camp. Maya was there this past summer for a week, and Guy spent five weeks there in the summer of 2023. Since Maya is American and Guy is British, we were eager to hear how their sense of their own national identity/ies shaped their experiences. Maya talked about her Syrian roots, and Guy discussed Britain’s historical legacy in the Middle East. While in the camp, Maya played soccer with children and shadowed surgeons. Guy played soccer and chess and taught geography lessons. He was also involved with a youth club which focused on anger management and anti-bullying sessions. Both Guy and Maya discussed the ways in which this volunteer work has shaped their thinking and has impacted their plans for the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now in its seventh year, WRESL – the Working Group on Refugees, Europe, and Service Learning – provides an informal space in which some of the Center for European Studies’ undergraduates, Excel EURO-TAM students, can discuss the circumstances of refugees in Europe and the US. This group actively seeks out opportunities to learn about the immigrant experience on both sides of the Atlantic and to engage with those involved in integration processes. Thus far, we have focused attention on the efforts of refugee assistance programs (Church World Service), community partnerships (Transplanting Traditions), student volunteer tutors, as well as international photographers and film makers. As the name suggests, we are interested in wrestling with the challenges and successes of migrants and the ways in which non-migrants contribute to the immigrant experience.

I want to…

  • …know about who puts on these events. Check out our Staff!

  • …learn more about engagement efforts. Check out our Past Events!

  • …find volunteering/internship opportunities. Check out our Past Partners!

Blog Posts

 

US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants: Linda Harding

On February 28th, we spoke to Linda Harding, community engagement coordinator at USCRI, about the impact they have on the lives of many refugees and immigrants.
Read more…

MOABIT HILFT: Christiane Beckmann

On January 24th, we spoke to Christiane Beckmann, manager of Moabit Hilft e.V., about how she became involved in grassroots work, the refugee integration experience in Germany, and how she leverages politics for refugee rights advocacy.
Read more…

TRANSPLANTING TRADITIONS: Nora and Paw Paw

On November 27th, we invited Nora and Paw Paw from Transplanting Traditions to learn about ways to aid immigrants and refugees within our local community.
Read more…

RECENT WRESL EVENT: SCREENING: THE FIELDS OF IMMOKALEE

At noon on February 7th, we screened a Bertelsmann-Foundation film in the GEC followed by a panel.
Read more…

OCTOBER 2019 WORKSHOP – CHRIS AND HEVAL

WRESL members were recently invited to take part in a workshop focused on reconciling differing opinions.
Read more…

MARCH 1ST: AN EVENING ON IMMIGRATION

Susanne Dieper, Director of Programs and Grants at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., joined us to discuss the AICGS project called “Integration: Made in Germany.”
Read more…

 

WRESL HAD ITS FIRST FALL 2019 MEETING ON SEPT. 20TH

We heard from Professor Christiane Lemke of the University of Hannover in Germany and from one of our WRESL members, Cameren Lofton, about a refugee theater project they worked on this summer.
Read more…

TAM Student Volunteering

After returning to UNC during the peak of the Refugee Crisis, Sam Barber got involved as a volunteer in the refugee community in Chapel Hill, via student organization INJAZ.
Read more…

A European Partner and Refugees

Center colleague Christian Wilhelm, from Humboldt University in Berlin, spoke with WRESL about creating a path for refugees in Germany to enroll in Humboldt’s German-Turkish Master’s Program. One student shared her reflection.
Read more…

 

Refugees in Europe and Berlin

My German colleague wanted to enable refugees to join GeTMA – the German-Turkish Master’s Program Humboldt has run in conjunction with The Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara.
Read more…

Volunteering with Refugees Overseas

The Center for European Studies hosted a panel discussion focused on undergraduates who will undertake or have engaged in volunteer work with refugees overseas.
Read more…

Students Visit Refugee Exhibition

A small group of Excel @ Carolina students who are part of our EURO-TAM Program recently went to The Friday Center to see a multimedia art exhibition called REFUGEE. The students shared their impressions.
Read more…