Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth

Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth is an exhibit of intimate portraits and touching interviews with youth who have endured unimaginable circumstances.

Jeremiah Atem tells of the enduring hope that kept him alive during his escape from religious persecution in the Sudan. Muna Ali, born in Somalia, describes the reality of being “homeless.” “Even though we have a place to live,” the teen states, “in our hearts we don’t have a home; there is nowhere to go back to.”

Between 1994 and 1999, an estimated 1,850 youth, given refugee status by the U.S. Government, migrated to Utah from approximately twenty-two different countries in six geographical regions. This exhibit was created to tell their stories, so their acculturation into Utah life will not be made more difficult by a lack of tolerance and understanding.

Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth was awarded the Utah Education Association’s 2002 Charles E. Bennett Award for Human and Civil Rights and the 2003 National Education Association’s Applegate-Dorros Award for Peace and International Understanding. The exhibit contains thirty images with extensive wall text, which reveals the children’s flight from persecution; their finding temporary haven in refugee camps; and their efforts to acculturate into Utah’s educational environment. The exhibit is accompanied by a sixty-two-page catalogue; curriculum guides for students in grades K-6 and 7-12; and a thirty-minute film, also called Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth, produced by KUED-TV, Utah’s PBS affiliate.

Curriculum Guides:
Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth Curriculum Guide for Secondary School Teachers and Counselors – PDF
Faces and Voices of Refugee YouthCurriculum Guide for Teachers and Counselors Graces K – 6 – PDF