All posts tagged: refugee

It’s a Beautiful Day for Refugees

Where does most granola begin? Probably in a factory, or maybe a sticky bowl at home during an oatmeal cookie project gone wrong. At Beautiful Day, a nonprofit gourmet granola powerhouse in Rhode Island, the answer may surprise you – a classroom. In 2008, Keith Cooper was an educator struggling to meet the learning needs of his refugee students. The decontextualized atmosphere of the western classroom – desks and chairs arranged in neat rows – wasn’t conducive to learning for kids who had just arrived from camps. Since most people learn by doing, Keith decided that one of his personal hobbies might be a perfect hands-on project. So he got together with his friend Geoff Gordon and started teaching his students how to make granola. English improved. Morale improved. Students found something that bound them together and gave them purpose – and Keith saw a chance to make it all sustainable. Honoring Work & Roots Fast-forward a dozen years, and Beautiful Day is a thriving nonprofit with a mission “to help refugees, especially youth and the most …

Unaccompanied Minors Become Unstoppable Women

Tucked away in a quiet unassuming neighborhood in Nairobi, Kenya is a remarkable, open green space for refugee girls escaping some of the most troubled regions of Africa. Like a tree-lined cul-de-sac in an American suburb, the lush landscape stands in sharp contrast to the chaos of conflict zones. “We deliberately chose a safer and peaceful place for our campus,” says Emily Snider, Director of Marketing for RefuSHE. “There are fewer triggers here.” Triggers abound throughout East Africa, home to a smoldering refugee crisis where more than 1.3 million people live in blistering, under-resourced camps in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Thousands have spent an entire lifetime in exile, searching for the kind of stillness found at RefuSHE’s sanctuary. Every displaced person is vulnerable by definition, but RefuSHE was founded specifically to serve the most vulnerable of all: unaccompanied girls and young women. Some are orphans, while others become separated from family during the flight to safety. Along the way, many young women get sucked up in militia and sexual violence, leading to layered and complex …