Guest appearance at event by videolinkBring the voices of the displaced to your living room and beyond through NaTakallam’s virtual guest speaker sessions, Refugee Voices.

For Refugee Week 2020, NaTakallam and Ben & Jerry’s have teamed up to give you the opportunity to host a free virtual ‘Refugee Voices’ session.  

The sessions are open conversations with NaTakallam’s professional refugee Conversation Partners (CPs) around the world, who share their personal stories, the context that forced them to leave and the challenges of rebuilding a life.

Many CPs are artists or musicians, so you can also choose to focus sessions around these mutual interests or even include a performance!

Conversation Partners: NaTakallam works with a range of expert CPs including Mona and Bénis – check out their bios below. NaTakallam  match groups and CPs based on availability and interests. 

Mona is in her 20s and originally from Damascus, Syria.  Before being resettled to her current home in Victoria, Canada; she lived in Beirut, Lebanon for several years.  Mona has a degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus, and in her spare time, she loves singing, drawing, and painting.  Here’s a clip of Mona singing to a classroom in Chicago

Bénis is in his 40s and originally from Burundi. He now lives in Uganda after being forced to leave due to political conflict.  Bénis holds a Masters in Didactics of French as a Foreign Language. In his free time he loves to play guitar and watch comedy movies. 

Refugee Voices have not only proved to be an impactful and enriching experience to participants, but each session contributes directly to refugee livelihoods.

Guidelines:

  • All guests will need to be able to access these virtual sessions using a mobile, laptop or tablet with an internet connection
  • Identify one or two people to organise this event, who will be responsible for inviting people to the session and helping guide the discussion (more resources to follow!)
  • Think about how you can reach new people – for example, can five people in your network each invite a friend or relative who hasn’t engaged in this issue before?
  • The recommended group size is around 10-15 people per session 

Allow for around two weeks of lead time to schedule your session and give CPs a chance to check their availability, respond, and prepare. 

These sessions are a great way to have an open and informative conversation in a safe and empowering way. Enjoy these new connections and have some fun! 😊 

The partners:

NaTakallam (“we speak” in Arabic) is an award-winning, woman-founded, social enterprise that delivers high-quality, impactful language, translation and cultural exchange services by vetted and highly-skilled refugees and displaced persons worldwide. Learn more here. 

Ice cream activists Ben & Jerry’s is committed to using its voice to campaign on social justice issues including refugee and asylum seeker rights. Find out more here. 

To apply to host a free session, please complete this form. If you have any questions please contact danica.harootian@natakallam.com