C'ville Refugees' Stories Told in Photographs

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Updated: 10:39 AM Aug 2, 2008 C'ville Refugees' Stories Told in Photographs A new photography exhibit in Charlottesville details the lives of refugees in the area. Posted: 11:23 PM Aug 1, 2008 Reporter: Matt Holmes Email Address: matt.holmes@wcav.tv

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Friday August 1, 2008

There are millions of men, women and children in dozens of nations around the world who, when they think about America, they're not thinking gas prices or taxes like so many of us; instead, when they see America, they simply see freedom.

"I'm a refugee from Togo," explains Debi Banawoe.

Debi is not the only one who's had to leave behind family and friends to escape persecution. Friday night a new exhibit displayed some of the faces and stories of refugees living in Charlottesville.

"[Refugees come] from every continent in the world and a number of different countries, as well," says Sarah Burke with the International Rescue Committee of Charlottesville. "[They come from] very different backgrounds, very different socioeconomic classes and educational backgrounds."

For the many people who have been relocated here to Charlottesville by the IRC, the Debi Banawoe story is a familiar one.

"My dad was a politician and he had to run," Debi says. "So we went to Ghana for years actually before we came here."

She recalls how staying in Togo as a member of the opposition party would have gotten her father killed. Still, she says, for a man who was once an educator and political leader in his homeland, life in the U.S. has not been easy.

"They didn't recognize his degree from...Togo," she explains. "They didn't recognize it here so he had to do a manual job."

But for Debi herself, life in America has proven full of opportunity. Since arriving in Charlottesville in 2003, she's graduated from high school, gotten a job at a bank and is working toward her business degree at PVCC.

And she says she owes it all to the IRC workers who brought her here.

"If they're not there, we wouldn't be here and life would be way different. I don't know what the future holds but it would be different."

The "Asylum and Acceptance" exhibit is the brainchild of a Charlottesville High alumnus who says he was inspired by some of his soccer teammates who they themselves were refugees.

The exhibit, which features photographs and stories from many of Charlottesville's refugees, will run throughout the month of August at the City Space on the Downtown Mall. It's free and open to the public.

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