Red Cross Day at the University of Wisconsin-Superior encouraged students to learn more about the troubled lives of refugees with a “Refugee for 75 Minutes” exhibit on Nov. 14.
Additionally, other activities also took place, such as hands-only CPR training for attendees. Dr. Haji Dokhanchi is Department Chair of the the Social Inquiry Department and a long-term volunteer for the American Red Cross’ Northern Minn. branch. Dokhanchi believe it’s important for students to be aware of the Red Cross’ mission.
“I think the importance is the global awareness of the numbers, and if you’re going to have a conversation about refugees, it needs to be informed. Our job is not to say, do this or do that, our job is to say, ‘this is what makes a person a refugee’. I think we move to a new level of conversation after this, where we can find what options exist,” said Dokhanchi.
Many attended both activities. UWS students in Dokhanchi’s class guided spectators through the simulated struggles a refugee endures.
“I think a lot of people who attend college in this area haven’t come from places with lots of diversity, let alone people other countries,” said Executive Director of American Red Cross Northern Minnesota, Dan Williams.
Williams sees the importance of educations of refugees across the U.S., as the most recent 2020 Cenus shows that there’s less ethnic diversity the more rural the area is.
“When I see dozens of students going to the exhibit at any given time, the town they go back home to will have an improved understanding of other cultures because of these events,” said Williams.
