With forced displacement at an all-time high, RefugePoint acknowledges that it will take the entire international community to come together to find lasting solutions. With this in mind, we hosted a Jeffersonian dinner entitled “Reimagining Refugee Futures: From Exclusion to Inclusion” at the Hampshire House in Boston on October 28. Our discussion, which included about 80 local innovators and supporters, focused on the growing global crisis and how we can reimagine a better future for refugees.

Board Member G. Barrie Landry and guest speaker Sandra Uwiringiyimana, connect at RefugePoint’s Jeffersonian Dinner event in October. Sandra, now an extremely successful woman, was resettled to the United States with her family when she was a child.

We know that the challenges refugees face can seem overwhelming. But, as our speaker Sandra Uwiringiyimana reminded us, this crisis can be remedied. We all have a role to play and can take action to help refugees. By learning, engaging in dialogue and making connections at discussions like we did at our dinner, we begin to figure out what each of us can do personally and more broadly.

At our event, we met and heard from people who are no longer refugees, Sandra Uwiringiyimana, Deo Mwano, and Dan from the Congo, and Moses from South Sudan. We know from their success what the future can look like for refugees today who are struggling to survive. With the right support, refugees can pursue their own interests and dreams and find ways to contribute their unique talents and skills.

In addition to our resettlement work across Africa, our program in Nairobi is designed to enable refugees to resume dignified, self-sustaining lives in Kenya so that they will not need to pursue dangerous onward journeys in search of a future.

The dinner was graciously hosted by: G. Barrie Landry, Karen Ansara, Stephanie Dodson, Nancy Farese, Beth Floor, Emily Nielsen Jones, and Rick and Patti Wayne.