Saturday is World Refugee Day in Grand Forks and around the world, and dozens of new Grand Forks residents will be at the Town Square Farmers Market to sing, dance, offer distinctive foods and introduce themselves.
They have come from Bhutan in Asia, Burundi in Africa and, earlier, Bosnia in Europe. They have been welcomed here, officially and by groups of volunteers who try to help with learning a new language, new customs and new laws, and who provide some of the basic start-up things required for a new home.
Like the annual picnics organized by the Global Friends Coalition in University Park, Saturday's event is a chance for the city's residents, new and longstanding, to get to know each other, said Cynthia Shabb, the group's director.
Refugees are people who fled their homelands against their will, chased from their villages and towns and separated from their families "due to persecution or war, because of their race or religion or social group," Shabb said.
"They don't have a choice," she said. "They cannot stay."
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Global Friends, a nonprofit organization, helps refugees integrate into the local community through volunteer mentors, English language tutoring, advocacy and special events.
Since 1997, the federal government and New American Services, run by Lutheran Social Services, have resettled more than 550 international refugees in Grand Forks. More than 3,500 have been resettled in Fargo in that time, plus more than 700 in West Fargo and more than 460 in Bismarck.
Shabb acknowledged that questions persist in the community, including concerns about numbers of students needing instruction in the English language, but she said the community has become more welcoming.
"I see it improving because the people are out and about and in the community," she said. "They are more visible, doing everyday activities, and other people see them."
The United Nations started World Refugee Day in 2000, and it has become an annual event observed now in more than 100 countries. This will be the fourth world refugee day in Grand Forks, the third at Town Square.
If you go: The market will open 9 a.m., and the day's observance will start 10 a.m.
Entertainment will include dancing, singing, foods from several countries and a fashion show. Students from Century and Lewis and Clark elementary schools will show off art work.
This year's menu includes roti, a Nepalese doughnut, and Liberian banana bread.
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The day will conclude with a soccer game at 6 p.m. at Lions Park.
On the Web: www.GFWorldRefugeeFair.org .
Reach Haga at (701) 780-1102; (800) 477-6572, ext. 102; or send email to chaga@gfherald.com .
