Three Tucsonans, including two Somali refugees, are in Washington, D. C., this week to collect an honorable mention – one of four awarded nationwide – for a video they made on Somali refugees in Tucson.
The video won honors in a video story contest, “Portraits of Compassion” sponsored by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
Barbara Eiswerth, founder and coordinator of the nonprofit Iskash**taa Refugee Harvesting Network in Tucson, said in a news release the video will be shown to more than 1,000 attendees this week at a White House conference called “Innovations in Effective Compassion.”
The video depicts Somali refugees harvesting fruits and vegetables from backyard trees and gardens here. It includes interviews explaining how the Bantu came to be refugees of civil war in Africa. More than 3,000 Somalis live in Arizona as refugees.
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Portraits of Compassion
The video can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfe_7Spcjq0