The Network will partner with Live. Learn. Act to present “Salam Neighbor” on Wednesday, May 3, 7 – 9 pm, at the Winchester High School.
“Salam Neighbor” is an award-winning film and campaign to connect the world to refugees. The powerful documentary, produced in 2016, follows the plight of Syrian refugees in Jordan’s Za’atari refugee camp through the journey of two filmmakers living inside the camp.
The two Americans deliberately head to the edge of war, just seven miles from the Syrian border, to live among the 80,000 uprooted refugees in Jordan’s Za’atari refugee camp. As the first filmmakers allowed by the United Nations to register and set-up a tent inside a refugee camp, Zach and Chris plunge into the heart of the world’s most pressing humanitarian crisis. From meeting Um Ali, a woman struggling to overcome personal loss and cultural barriers, to the street smart, 10-year-old Raouf, whose trauma hides just beneath his ever present smile, Zach and Chris uncover inspiring stories of individuals rallying, against all odds, to rebuild their lives and those of their neighbors.
– Written by Anonymous. IMDb.
Post-Screening dialogue follows with:
Deirde Giblin, Esq., Asylum Lawyer, Community Legal Services and Counseling Center (CLSACC)
A recipient of the 2016 Top Women in Law, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Deidre Giblin knew from an early age that she wanted to be a lawyer with a concentration in human rights. Solidifying her intent was the opportunity to study under Elie Wiesel during her final year at Boston University, as part of a seminar on the “Literature of Memory.” That experience helped form the basis of Deirdre’s focus on the intersection of mental health and trauma survivor treatment in her work with highly vulnerable asylum seekers. CLSACC is unique in its combination of legal services and counseling. “I approach my work holistically, and I can’t see it without counseling,” she says. “We have to ask our clients to go back into their traumatic memory, and help them to testify credibly about their experience and somehow cope with that trauma.” Even knowing that the stakes in her cases couldn’t be much higher, Deirdre can’t imagine any other practice. “It’s almost a sacred space, sitting with a client and having them share what happened, being that person who can take their story and fit it into a legal framework and make sure they can get safety,” she says. “Every asylum grant we get feels tremendous. It doesn’t get old.”
Taken from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly—Correy Stephenson. Learn more about Deidre Giblin.
Dr. Omar Salem, Chairman, Karam Foundation
Omar Salem, DMD, MS was born and raised in Damascus, Syria, and moved to the USA in 1996. Salem is an orthodontist and dentofacial orthopedist. In 2013, he joined Karam Foundation to run the Innovative Education Dental programs. He has led Karam’s dental and hygiene teams during four missions providing dental treatment and preventative care to over 3000 Syrian refugee children. He served on the faculty body at the department of orthodontics at Buffalo University until 2002, and then moved to Tufts University School of Dental medicine where he served as director of the Pre-doctoral Orthodontic Program until 2005. He has been in full time private practice since 2005. Salem is serving a two-year term as the president of the Syrian American Dental Association. He’s a founding partner and the vice chairman of the board of Great Hill Dental Partners in New England. Learn about the Karam Foundation.
Aba Taylor, Executive Director, Winchester Multicultural Network (WMCN)
Aba Taylor has been involved in social justice work for over 15 years supporting immigrants, people affected by HIV/AIDS, LGBTQI advocacy, women’s rights, and racial and economic justice movements. Having worked for the United Nations, African Services Committee, Lambda Legal, Liberty Hill Foundation, ACT-UP and a host of other civil rights, social justice and cultural organizations committed to uplifting myriad communities, she has promoted anti-violence and anti-bias strategies and education, facilitated numerous cultural competency and civil rights trainings, used media and cultural work to shift public perceptions, and created and managed programs to create greater opportunities for some of society’s most marginalized people. Learn more about Aba Taylor.
About Live. Learn. Act. (LLA)
Founded in 2011, Live Learn Act. is a non-profit organization focused on expanding global education opportunities for elementary school aged children. LLA’s goal is to ignite a passion for global learning in the formative years, so that children develop a sustained and lifelong commitment to improving their global community. Our mission is straightforward: Empower children to contribute to the welfare of our world by communicating with each other through means of self-expression. Learn more about Live. Learn. Act.