November 10, 2015, Orange County, CA. Pacifica Institute in Orange County organized a panel discussion titled “What you need to know about the Syrian Refugee Crisis.” at its offices.The purpose of the panel was to raise awareness on the crisis and also provide a humanitarian perspective on the ongoing conflict.
Opening remarks were given by Rabbi Arnold Rachlis, Spiritual Leader at University Synagogue, Among the panelists was Dania Alkhoul, a Syrian American poet; Kelsey Norman, Doctoral Candidate at the University of California Irvine; Haroon Azar, representative from United States Department of Homeland Security and Hassan Twiet, Board Member at Sunrise-USA.
Dania Alkhouli, shared a brief history of “A Country Called Syria” — an organization she co-founded with her mother and also explained the need to preserve the Ugarit, an ancient city in Syria. Kelsey Norman, explained her research on migration in Egypt and Turkey as well as common misconceptions on Syrian Refugees and a refugees globally. According to her, refugees and asylum seekers are populated not only in camps, but also in rural and urban areas. Haroon Azar recognized the issue between security and refugee resettlement and provided additional information on the U.S. government’s plan in dealing with the refugee crisis.
Hassan Twiet presented on the displacement of the children as a result of the conflict. According to Twiet, over 5.5 million children have been affected, 4.29 million remain poor, displaced, and caught in the line of fire, while 1.25 million are living outside Syria. He urged attendees to reach out to local representatives and other charities to help the cause. Salma Mamlouk shared her individual story as a Syrian refugee, her recent migration to the United States and the challenges she faced to assimilate in the country.
The evening concluded with closing remarks by Maria Khani of Access California Services, who encouraged the audience to visit the organizations that participated in the panel to learn more information on how to help Syria.
