Museum exhibit attempts to humanize refugee crisis and genocide By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.10.17 Word Count 1,176 Two American women at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., speak with refugees in Erbil, Iraq. Visitors realize that "each individual has a story of survival," said a museum official. Washington Post photo by Linda Davidson WASHINGTON, D.C. On a blustery Friday morning, Carolyn Rapkievian wrapped herself in a coat and scarf and walked a mile from her office to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. She climbed to the second floor, stepped into a 16-foot-long, gold-painted shipping container, and settled onto a wooden stool. It was the day after her 60th birthday. On a balmy evening in Erbil, Iraq, a teenager named Sami left the cramped, one-room structure he shared with his family and made his way across the refugee camp to a small concrete building, where his brother and two friends sat in plastic chairs. Sami flopped down beside them and yawned. He had stayed up late the night before, playing cards with his friends. It was his 18th birthday. Then, through a pair of 8-foot video screens linked across thousands of miles, Rapkievian and the four young Iraqi men were suddenly face to face. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 1
Exhibit Offers 20-Minute Video Chats When Rapkievian heard about the new exhibit allowing visitors to spend 20-minute sessions speaking with Syrian or Iraqi refugees by video, she signed up right away. Then she pondered what to talk about. She knew she would mention her grandparents, who had narrowly escaped the 1915 mass slaughter of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. She would avoid politics, although she had been following the concerns around President Donald Trump's order temporarily barring refugees and immigrants from seven majority- Muslim countries. Rapkievian figured she could offer the refugees an opportunity to share their thoughts and stories, if they wanted to. If they didn't, that was OK, too. Through a translator, she said, "Hello. I'm Carolyn." "Hi," Sami said. The project was created by the art and technology group Shared Studios. It sits in an exhibit about the continuing threat of genocide, the planned killing of a large group of people. Visitors see displays about ongoing conflicts and the grim global refugee crisis - maps, videos, photos of frightened families crowded onto tiny boats. Connecting Visitors To Syrian And Iraqi Refugees "When we talk about genocides going on in the world, there's a sort of numbing effect because the numbers are so big," said Cameron Hudson, leader of the museum's Simon- Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide. The video project allows them to "also tell the personal stories," he said. The life-size screen connects visitors in Washington to Syrian refugees in Berlin and Jordan, and Iraqi refugees in Erbil. They often greet Americans with cheerful smiles. "That surprises people sometimes," said Marisa DeSalvio of Shared Studios. The Syrians and Iraqis in the project have been forced from their homes by Islamic State or the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-assad. Islamic State is an extremist group. It wants to start its own country under Islamic law. Its fighters have taken over parts of Syria. Some of northern and western Iraq is also under its control. Many of the refugees have witnessed horror, but they are in safer places now, with hobbies, daily habits and hope for their future. These tend to be easier topics for a chat with a stranger. Discovering Common Interests "Sometimes, adults ask political questions, and (the refugees) get nervous. It becomes work for them," said Wassim Subie, a translator at the museum. "It's chemistry - sometimes people click, and sometimes they don't." This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 2
However, even the people in these awkward exchanges can connect. There is a sudden closeness to a person who might share your favorite soccer team. Americans might relate to someone who likes to hang out at coffee shops and scroll through Facebook, even if they happen to live in a refugee camp and share a tent with family members. Roughly 1,600 visitors have used the exhibit since it arrived in December. Many of them have filled a guest book with heartfelt reflections. "I really enjoyed meeting the men from Iraq and hearing that they do some of the same things we do for fun." "I felt like the young man could have been my son." "Hearing directly from someone in a camp makes it so much more real." Questions To Help Break The Ice The project will continue through March 8. For Americans who are nervous about what to say, Shared Studios suggests a few questions. What's going on today? What do you like to do for fun? What do you want Americans to know about you? Sami has a go-to answer to this one. "We hope Americans will know that not all Iraqis are ISIS." ISIS refers to Islamic State, an extremist group. Rapkievian had other questions. On the screen, the four young men in Iraq, Sami, his brother Rami, and their friends Mustafa and Mohammed, who asked to use only their first names, listened as Subie translated her words into Arabic. "What happened to your family that you had to end up here?" she asked. "The thing that made us leave is ISIS, and all the terrorism," Mustafa answered. "That forced us to flee our homes." Horrors That Are Best Left Unsaid It was a simple answer that left much unsaid. Mustafa did not talk about how his family left Mosul in the middle of the night, how their cars were stolen by Islamic State fighters who shot at them while Mustafa's little brothers cowered in fear. Sami, who was 15 when he fled with his family, did not share his memory of the road they traveled. It had dead bodies, destroyed homes and the shells of burned ambulances. "What are things that give you hope and encouragement every day?" Rapkievian asked. "We really want to get back to our hometown," Mustafa said. "We want to go back to our friends and our families." Later, Rapkievian said that she had asked these questions to give them the opportunity to share more about their past or their thoughts on politics. "But I sensed that they didn't want to go there." This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 3
Bonding Through Music So she smiled and changed the topic. She told them that she had just turned 60, and Sami wished her a happy birthday in English. He told her that he had just turned 18, and she returned his wishes. Rapkievian saw a phone in Rami's hand and asked, "Do you have music on your phone? Play me something you like." Rami smiled shyly and held the phone to the microphone. The sound of drums and the voice of a male singer came through. Rapkievian smiled. "I love this music," she said. Celebrating Birthdays Worlds Apart Rapkievian would finish her workday, then go home, where her husband would host her birthday party the next day. She would tell her friends about the project and urge them to check it out. Maybe it will help people to be more active and get involved in this issue, she said. Half a world away, the young men in Erbil would talk to a few more Americans, then gather to celebrate Sami's birthday. There would be games, a cake, a wish that this might be his last birthday in the refugee camp. "Hopefully this year," Mustafa said, "we can go home." This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4
Quiz 1 Which paragraph in the section "Exhibit Offers 20-Minute Video Chats" explains how the project is connected to the rest of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum? 2 Select the excerpt that BEST explains the reason the people in the article became refugees. She would avoid politics, although she had been following the concerns around President Donald Trump's order temporarily barring refugees and immigrants from seven majority-muslim countries. "When we talk about genocides going on in the world, there's a sort of numbing effect because the numbers are so big," said Cameron Hudson, leader of the museum's Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide. Islamic State is an extremist group. It wants to start its own country under Islamic law. Its fighters have taken over parts of Syria. Some of northern and western Iraq is also under its control. "We really want to get back to our hometown," Mustafa said. "We want to go back to our friends and our families." 3 Read the section "Discovering Common Interests." How does the author convey the importance of the project? by highlighting positive feedback from visitors by interviewing an interpreter for the project by offering a transcript of a successful conversation by discussing the ways that different visitors misunderstand each other 4 Read the section "Horrors That Are Best Left Unsaid." What is MOST LIKELY the author's purpose in including information about the frightening experiences these refugees have faced? to explain why so many refugees didn't want to participate in the portal project to propose that that project may not succeed because the lives of people on either side are too different to show the ways that the museum project has made a positive difference in refugees' lives to provide background for the idea that the refugees may not want to talk about everything they have been through This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 5